OBJECTIVE Healthcare-associated infections are one of the most important problems of all health institutions. This study was conducted to evaluate results of training about infection control measures provided to patients treated and hospitalized in clinics of obstetrics and gynecology, and to their relatives, as well as subsequent effect on infection rate. METHODS The study was conducted in c...

PATIENTS expect and deserve safe, highquality healthcare that is free from preventable harmful events. In the United States, 247 people die every day as a result of a healthcare-associated infection.1 This is equivalent to a Boeing 767 aircraft crashing daily. Another staggering statistic is that nearly 100 000 people enter a hospital and die from an infection they acquired while receiving trea...

Whether severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection can be asymptomatic is unclear. We examined the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV among 674 healthcare workers from a hospital in which a SARS outbreak had occurred. A total of 353 (52%) experienced mild self-limiting illnesses, and 321 (48%) were asymptomatic throughout the course of these observations. None of thes...

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) constitute a major safety problem. Healthcare managers need complete and valid information to fight against these infections. The purpose of this study was to develop a dashboard of indicators to help healthcare managers monitor HAIs. A pilot testing approach was used that was composed of the following steps: literature review, consultation with infection...

Healthcare-associated infections remain an important source of morbidity and mortality, with an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths annually. The major source of nosocomial pathogens is thought to be patients' endogenous flora, but an estimated 20%-40% of healthcare-associated infections have been attributed to cross infection via the hands of healthcare personnel. Contamination ...

Introduction....................................................................................................................................2 Clostridium difficile — Biology and Pathogenesis.........................................................................2 Biology............................................................................................................................

ICU patients are identified as targets for quality of care and patient safety improvement strategies. Critically ill patients are at high risk for complications due to the complex and invasive nature of critical care. Several reports in the literature describe initiatives aiming to zero the healthcare-associated infection rate. We discuss the results of a study assessing a systematic team appro...