While the effects of climate change are being discussed and analyzed, and steps are being attempted to halt the changes, there is one area that the changing climate is causing issues that is being overlooked- the spread of infectious diseases. These changes are not as visual and immediately noticeable as changing weather patterns or rising…
Many hospitals struggle with getting rid of lingering bacteria and pathogens in patient rooms and keeping these patients from becoming infected. A new technology is being tested and used in hospitals as part of the complete infection control procedures- Ultraviolet light. What exactly is Ultraviolet Light, and why is it so useful for disinfecting…
Hospital acquired infections can come from all sorts of places within the hospital, and infection control procedures try to keep these managed and under control. However, there are still numerous areas that are easy to overlook, or are just hidden in plain sight, and unnecessary infections are spread to patients. One of these overlooked areas…
When a patient is brought into a hospital room they are considered to be separate from the rest of the room, but a recent study has found that they should be considered part of the room’s microbiome. Approaching infection control procedures and cleaning protocols using the concept of the entire room and its occupants as…
There’s a major source of potential infection in hospitals, and despite being an area that everyone touches and sees, it has typically been considered non-critical in terms of needing to be cleaned and considered a focus of infection control procedures. To find this source of infection all you need to do is look down- …
A hospital is full of various rooms and areas that have very specific and different requirements for what is needed within that area to keep patients and staff safe. Some rooms require positive air pressure, while others require negative air pressure, or have specific needs for the water, humidity levels, or temperature of the space.…
When you think of an easy way to prevent the spread of infections, you might think of what everyone learns when they are a child- to wash their hands thoroughly to get rid of germs and prevent spreading them. In a hospital setting you would think that this would carry over as well, and that…
When people are admitted to a hospital, it is with the hope that they are there to become healthier, and have medical issues go away. However, for too many people their hospital stay ends up being a nightmare full of unnecessary complications and even death. This is because of Hospital Acquired Infections, which are a…
Researchers have recently published the results of a study focused on critical room infection control in the Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, a journal for the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study found that surgical site infections are actually seasonal, with the number of them increasing in the summer and decreasing in the…
One of the fastest growing Joint Commission citations has to do with Environment of Care issues, with over 46% of hospitals being cited during their 2013 surveys. The year before, only 34% of hospitals were found to be non-compliant. The citations were under code EC.02.05.01 with a focus specifically on the ventilation system being unable…