Author Interviews, Cleveland Clinic, Infections / 31.10.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Curtis J. Donskey, MD Professor of Medicine Case Western Reserve University Staff Physician, Infectious Diseases Section, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The goal of the study was to obtain a better understanding of how healthcare-associated pathogens are transmitted.  Infection control efforts tend to emphasize hand hygiene and cleaning of high-touch surfaces in patient rooms.  However, there is evidence that portable equipment and floors could be underappreciated sources of transmission. We previously found that a nonpathogenic virus inoculated onto floors in patient rooms spread rapidly to the hands of patients and to surfaces in the room and throughout the ward.  This raised concern that pathogens could spread by the same route. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hospital Acquired, Infections, Technology / 23.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Donna Armellino RN, DNP, CIC Vice President, Infection Prevention Northwell Health, Infection Prevention Lake Success, N. Y. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Response: The background for initiating this study was to assess frequently used equipment within the patient care environment following standard manual cleaning and disinfection compared to disinfection with PurpleSun’s shadowless 90-second cycle focused multivector ultraviolet (FMUV) delivery system. Microbes exist within the environment. Cleaning followed by disinfection, regardless of method, is intended to decrease levels of these microbes to minimize exposure and the risk of infection. To measure the effectiveness of the two methods of disinfection a five-point culturing method was used to assess microbial burden. This method was used to assess patient care equipment cleanliness after manual cleaning/disinfection and following the use of FMUV after an operative case and was used to sample equipment deemed cleaned/disinfected and ready for use outside the operative environment. Microbial burden was reported as colony forming units (CFUs). Comparison of the CFUs before cleaning/disinfection, after cleaning/disinfection, and after the use of FMUV allowed efficacy of the disinfection methods to be compared.  (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Hospital Acquired / 01.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: "Hospital Room" by Kyle Taylor is licensed under CC BY 2.0Dr. Shelley Magill, MD Medical Officer and CDC lead for the hospital HAI (hospital acquired infections) and antimicrobial use prevalence survey MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The prevalence survey effort began in 2009. The goal was to obtain a snapshot of all healthcare-associated infections affecting hospital patients, not limited to those commonly reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network. We conducted our first full-scale hospital prevalence survey in 2011, in collaboration with the Emerging Infections Program, a network of 10 state health departments and academic and other partners. Data from that survey showed that about four percent of patients had a healthcare-associated infection—or, on any given day, about 1 in 25 patients. We repeated the survey in a similar group of hospitals in 2015 to see whether changes had occurred. (more…)