Letter
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Katrina Browne, Brett G. Mitchell
Summary: Infection transmission in healthcare is a complex issue that involves the interplay between pathogens, hosts, and the environment. Environmental cleaning is one strategy to prevent transmission, and a multimodal intervention is key to reducing the risk of healthcare-associated infections through the environment.
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AND INFECTION CONTROL
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Alexandra Peters, Pierre Parneix, Martin Kiernan, Juliette A. Severin, Tracey Gauci, Didier Pittet
Summary: Healthcare environmental hygiene (HEH) is increasingly important for patient safety and the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. The 2022 Healthcare Cleaning Forum focused on main areas of interest and highlighted the need for collaboration between academia and the private sector. The conference also emphasized the involvement of governmental bodies and explored new innovations and the need for sustainability in HEH.
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AND INFECTION CONTROL
(2023)
Article
Archaeology
Yvonne Shashoua, Margherita Alterini, Gianluca Pastorelli, Louise Cone
Summary: The POPART and NANORESTART projects evaluated the effectiveness of cleaning plastics, with the conclusion that hydrogels are more effective than traditional cleaning tools, but sebum soil is more resistant to removal.
JOURNAL OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
(2021)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Katrina Browne, Nicole White, Peta Tehan, Philip L. Russo, Maham Amin, Andrew J. J. Stewardson, Allen C. Cheng, Kirsty Graham, Gabrielle O'Kane, Jennie King, Martin Kiernan, David Brain, Brett G. Mitchell
Summary: The CLEEN study aims to assess the impact of enhanced cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment on reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). It will use a randomized controlled design in one Australian hospital over 36 weeks. The primary outcome is to demonstrate the effectiveness of improving the quality and frequency of cleaning shared medical equipment in reducing HAIs.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
McKinley Linda, Baubie Kelsey, Bartel Rosie, Flower Mark, Keating A. Julie, Safdar Nasia
Summary: This study examined patient perspectives on the environmental cleaning work systems in healthcare. Patients generally expected a clean hospital room, but some felt in the way during cleaning, possibly resulting in rushed cleaning procedures. Patients expressed confidence in the skilled work of Environmental Management Service staff, and emphasized the importance of soft skills.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INFECTION CONTROL
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
M. J. Lydeamore, B. G. Mitchell, T. Bucknall, A. C. Cheng, P. L. Russo, A. J. Stewardson
Summary: This study estimates the burden of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in Australian public hospitals using a standard international framework. The results show that there are approximately 170,574 HAIs occurring in adults admitted to public hospitals in Australia annually, resulting in 7583 deaths. Hospital acquired pneumonia is the most frequent HAI, followed by surgical site infections and urinary tract infections. The study highlights the high burden of HAIs in Australia and the need for continued investment in prevention efforts.
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AND INFECTION CONTROL
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Dianne B. Auld, Phinnara Has, Leonard A. Mermel
Summary: Growth of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia from clinical specimens at our academic medical center was found to be significantly more likely during July-September compared to other calendar quarters from April 1, 2016, through March 31, 2022.
INFECTION CONTROL AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Alex Bhattacharya, Simon M. Collin, James Stimson, Simon Thelwall, Olisaeloka Nsonwu, Sarah Gerver, Julie Robotham, Mark Wilcox, Susan Hopkins, Russell Hope
Summary: In England, hospital-onset probable and definite cases accounted for 5.3% of all laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, with community-onset community-acquired cases being the highest proportion. Hospital-associated SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified in single and multi-site hospital-based studies, with up to 1 in 6 infections among hospitalised patients being attributed to nosocomial transmission.
JOURNAL OF INFECTION
(2021)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Onder Ergonul, Gizem Tokca, Siran Keske, Ebru Donmez, Bahar Madran, Azize Komur, Mehmet Gonen, Fusun Can
Summary: This paper describes the elimination of healthcare-associated Acinetobacter baumannii infections in a highly endemic region. The control of Acinetobacter baumannii outbreaks can be achieved by close follow-up supported by molecular techniques, strict application of infection control measures, and isolation of transferred patients.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
N. Grae, A. Singh, D. Jowitt, A. Flynn, E. Mountier, G. Clendon, R. Barratt, B. Gibson, C. Williams, S. A. Roberts, A. J. Morris
Summary: This study aims to determine the epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), prevalence of medical devices, and microbiology of HAIs in adults in public hospitals in New Zealand. The findings revealed that 6.6% of the surveyed patients had HAIs, with surgical site infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and bloodstream infections being the most common types. Device use accounted for 16% of the HAIs. The study highlights the importance of implementing proven multi-modal prevention interventions to reduce the burden of HAIs.
JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL INFECTION
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Michael Behnke, John Karlsson Valik, Sophie Gubbels, Daniel Teixeira, Brian Kristensen, Mohamed Abbas, Stephanie M. van Rooden, Petra Gastmeier, Maaike S. M. van Mourik
Summary: This document, published in 2021 by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases on behalf of Elsevier Ltd, provides an overview of implementing an automated surveillance system for Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in a clinical environment.
Written by a task force within the PRAISE network, it offers detailed guidance on key e-health aspects, data storage and structure, IT infrastructure organization, data standardization, interoperability, algorithms, and technical aspects of accessing, storing, and sharing healthcare data for HAI surveillance.
With the support of this document, along with the PRAISE roadmap and governance documents, readers will have comprehensive guidance on implementing large-scale automated surveillance in a healthcare network.
CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Y. -m. Lee, D. Y. Kim, E. J. Kim, K. -h. Park, M. S. Lee
Summary: This study evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units (ICUs) based on data from the Korean National Healthcare-Associated Infections Surveillance System. The study found that the incidence rates of bloodstream infection (BSI) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the rates of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) remained similar. The rates of BSI and CLABSI increased in large-sized hospitals but decreased in small-to-medium-sized hospitals, while the rates of CAUTI and VAP decreased in small-sized hospitals. There was no significant change in the rates of multidrug-resistant pathogens between the two periods.
JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL INFECTION
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
G. E. Yamaguto, F. Zhen, M. M. Moreira, B. M. Montesanti, S. M. Raboni
Summary: This study evaluated hospital-acquired infections caused by respiratory viruses over six years, finding that in immunosuppressed patients, hematologic neoplasia was the main comorbidity, while prematurity was the most prevalent comorbidity in non-immunosuppressed patients. The results indicated that the circulation of CRVs in the hospital environment is frequent, highlighting the need for enhanced preventive measures in healthcare settings.
JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL INFECTION
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Faisal Alsheddi, Tabish Humayun, Manar Alsaffar, Yvonne Suzette Aldecoa, Wafa H. Alshammari, Fayez Z. Aldalbehi, Hind Alanazi, Mohammed Alqahtani, Aiman El-Saed, Abdulmajid M. Almutairi, Khalid H. Alanazi
Summary: This study aimed to present the current rates of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and device utilization ratios (DUR) among Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals. The results showed the rates of various infections and device utilization ratios, which can serve as a national benchmark for MOH hospitals and a regional benchmark for similar hospitals in the region.
JOURNAL OF INFECTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Erin B. Gettler, H. Keipp Talbot, Yuwei Zhu, Danielle Ndi, Edward Mitchel, Tiffanie M. Markus, William Schaffner, Bryan Harris, Thomas R. Talbot
Summary: The objective of this study was to provide comprehensive population-level estimates of the burden of healthcare-associated influenza. The results showed that including cases associated with preadmission healthcare exposures along with traditionally defined cases resulted in an 8-fold higher incidence of healthcare-associated influenza. These findings emphasize the importance of capturing other healthcare-related influenza cases to provide more comprehensive estimates and to inform improved infection prevention strategies.
INFECTION CONTROL AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)