2010 Articles
Current views of health care design and construction: practical implications for safer, cleaner environments.
Am J Infect Control
Infection preventionists (IP) play an increasingly important role in preventing health care-associated infection in the physical environment associated with new construction or renovation of health care facilities.
Infection preventionists (IP) play an increasingly important role in preventing health care-associated infection in the physical environment associated with new construction or renovation of health care facilities.
Understanding the variation in treatment intensity among patients with early stage bladder cancer.
Cancer
Given the uncertainty surrounding the optimal management for early stage bladder cancer, physicians vary in how they approach the disease. The authors of this report linked cancer registry data with medical claims to identify the sources of variation and...
Given the uncertainty surrounding the optimal management for early stage bladder cancer, physicians vary in how they approach the disease. The authors of this report linked cancer registry data with medical claims to identify the sources of variation and...
The relationship between hospital size and ICU type on select adverse patient outcomes.
Hosp Top
The authors examined the relationships among hospital size and unit type, the prevalence of pressure ulcers, and rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia and catheter-related bloodstream infections in 25 intensive care units (ICUs) in 8 hospitals.
The authors examined the relationships among hospital size and unit type, the prevalence of pressure ulcers, and rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia and catheter-related bloodstream infections in 25 intensive care units (ICUs) in 8 hospitals.
Effect of bar-code technology on the safety of medication administration.
N Engl J Med
Medication errors in hospitals are common and often lead to patient harm. One study identified 6.5 adverse events related to medication use per 100 inpatient admissions; more than one fourth of these events were due to errors and were therefore...
Medication errors in hospitals are common and often lead to patient harm. One study identified 6.5 adverse events related to medication use per 100 inpatient admissions; more than one fourth of these events were due to errors and were therefore...
Hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infection: documentation and coding issues may reduce financial impact of Medicare's new payment policy.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
To evaluate whether hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CA-UTIs) are accurately documented in discharge records with the use of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes so that...
To evaluate whether hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CA-UTIs) are accurately documented in discharge records with the use of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes so that...
Pseudo-outbreak of Clostridium sordellii infection following probable cross-contamination in a hospital clinical microbiology laboratory.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
We report a pseudo-outbreak caused by Clostridium sordellii, an uncommon human pathogen. The pseudo-outbreak involved six patients and was temporally-associated with a change in the protocol of handling anaerobic culture specimens by the clinical...
We report a pseudo-outbreak caused by Clostridium sordellii, an uncommon human pathogen. The pseudo-outbreak involved six patients and was temporally-associated with a change in the protocol of handling anaerobic culture specimens by the clinical...
Effect of establishing guidelines on appropriate urinary catheter placement.
Acad Emerg Med
Avoiding placement of unnecessary urinary catheters (UCs) in the emergency department (ED) affects UC utilization during hospitalization. The authors sought to evaluate the effect of establishing institutional guidelines for appropriate UC placement...
Avoiding placement of unnecessary urinary catheters (UCs) in the emergency department (ED) affects UC utilization during hospitalization. The authors sought to evaluate the effect of establishing institutional guidelines for appropriate UC placement...
Teaching internal medicine residents quality improvement and patient safety: a lean thinking approach.
Am J Med Qual
Patient safety (PS) and quality improvement (QI) are among the highest priorities for all health systems. Resident physicians are often at the front lines of providing care for patients. In many instances, however, QI and PS initiatives exclude trainees. By aligning the...
Patient safety (PS) and quality improvement (QI) are among the highest priorities for all health systems. Resident physicians are often at the front lines of providing care for patients. In many instances, however, QI and PS initiatives exclude trainees. By aligning the...
Analysis of central line-associated bloodstream infections in the intensive care unit after implementation of central line bundles.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) have been reduced in number but not eliminated in our intensive care units with use of central line bundles. We performed an analysis of remaining CLABSIs. Many bloodstream infections that met the...
Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) have been reduced in number but not eliminated in our intensive care units with use of central line bundles. We performed an analysis of remaining CLABSIs. Many bloodstream infections that met the...
Interventions to curb the overuse of Acid-suppressive medications on an inpatient general medicine service.
P.T.
A retrospective review was conducted to assess the effect of various interventions on inappropriate prescribing of acid-suppressive agents in the hospital. Providing educational lectures was helpful, but adding a pharmacist to the health care team resulted in the...
A retrospective review was conducted to assess the effect of various interventions on inappropriate prescribing of acid-suppressive agents in the hospital. Providing educational lectures was helpful, but adding a pharmacist to the health care team resulted in the...
Differences in patient survival after acute myocardial infarction by hospital capability of performing percutaneous coronary intervention: implications for regionalization.
Arch Intern Med
There are increasing calls for regionalization of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) care in the United States to hospitals with the capacity to perform percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Whether regionalization will improve outcomes depends in part on...
There are increasing calls for regionalization of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) care in the United States to hospitals with the capacity to perform percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Whether regionalization will improve outcomes depends in part on...
Hospital cost of care, quality of care, and readmission rates: penny wise and pound foolish?
Arch Intern Med
Hospitals face increasing pressure to lower cost of care while improving quality of care. It is unclear if efforts to reduce hospital cost of care will adversely affect quality of care or increase downstream inpatient cost of care.
Hospitals face increasing pressure to lower cost of care while improving quality of care. It is unclear if efforts to reduce hospital cost of care will adversely affect quality of care or increase downstream inpatient cost of care.
Diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of catheter-associated urinary tract infection in adults: 2009 International Clinical Practice Guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Clin Infect Dis
Guidelines for the diagnosis, prevention, and management of persons with catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA-UTI), both symptomatic and asymptomatic, were prepared by an Expert Panel of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The evidence...
Guidelines for the diagnosis, prevention, and management of persons with catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA-UTI), both symptomatic and asymptomatic, were prepared by an Expert Panel of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The evidence...
