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Volume 18 - January 1997

Contents

Page 10 of 16

Practical Healthcare Epidemiology

  • Basics of Surgical-Site Infection Surveillance

  • Marie-Claude Roy, Trish M. Perl
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, pp. 659-668

  • Surgical-site infections, the third most common class of nosocomial infections, cause substantial morbidity and mortality and increase hospital costs. Surveillance programs can lead to reductions in surgical-site infection rates of 35% to 50%. Herein, we will discuss the practical aspects of implementing a hospital-based surveillance program for surgical-site infections. We will review surveillance methods, patient populations that should be screened, and interventions that could reduce infection rates.

Medical News

  • Risk Factors for VRE Infection

  • Gina Pugliese, Martin S. Favero
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, p. 149
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Statistics for Hospital Epidemiology

  • An Introduction to Time-Trend Analysis

  • David Birnbaum, John W. Ely, Jeffrey D. Dawson, Jon H. Lemke, Jon Rosenberg
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, pp. 267-274

  • Healthcare professionals often are presented with data that appear to indicate an upward or downward trend over time. For example, admissions of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients appear to be increasing, cesarean section rates appear to be decreasing, or nosocomial pneumonia rates appear to be increasing. Critical decisions sometimes are based on such trends, which often are presented without a statistical analysis. Those responsible for decision making may be left wondering whether these apparent trends represent only chance variation. Graphs showing trends over time generally present one of three kinds of outcome data: counts (eg, three AIDS admissions), proportions (eg, 10 cesarean sections per 100 total deliveries), or person-time data (eg, 13 cases of nosocomial pneumonia per 10,000 patient days). Using familiar examples and a minimum of technical language, we illustrate the analysis of time trends.

Medical News

  • Legionnaires' Disease From Whirlpool Spa Display

  • Gina Pugliese, Martin S. Favero
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, pp. 465-466
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Concise Communications

Practical Healthcare Epidemiology

  • Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia Perspectives for the Healthcare Epidemiologist

  • Donald E. Craven, Kathleen A. Steger
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, pp. 783-795

  • Nosocomial pneumonia is defined as an infection of lung parenchyma that was neither present nor incubating at the time of the patient's admission to the hospital. In the United States, hospital-acquired pneumonia is the second most common nosocomial infection and accounts for the most deaths from nosocomial infection. We describe how infection control personnel can use targeted surveillance to identify clusters of cases and to prevent pneumonia. We also discuss common pathogens that cause nosocomial pneumonia; ventilator-associated pneumonia; and strategies for prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia.

Other

Concise Communications

  • Activity of Disinfectants Against Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium

  • Guillermo Saurina, David Landman, John M. Quale
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, pp. 345-347

  • Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) often contaminate the hospital environment. We examined the activity of commonly used disinfectants against eight strains of VRE, using a quantitative suspension test method. Isopropyl alcohol and sodium hypochlorite were highly effective. Hydrogen peroxide was ineffective for all strains. After 10 minutes of incubation (the manufacturers' recommended time of exposure), three phenolic and three quaternary ammonium compounds also were highly effective. After 3 minutes of exposure, however, occasional failures did occur. With the exception of 3% hydrogen peroxide, most disinfectants appear to be active against VRE.

Statistics for Hospital Epidemiology

  • Mathematical Models in Decision Analysis

  • Eric Tom, Kevin A. Schulman
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, pp. 65-73

  • Decision analysis offers powerful techniques to understand and evaluate uncertain clinical situations better. Decision analytic models are appearing with increasing frequency in health policy planning, clinical information and decision-support computer systems, evaluations of clinical pathways, development of clinical practice or utilization review guidelines, and epidemiologic research. This article describes the structure, application, and limitations of the more popular decision analytic methods, including decision trees, Markov models, Monte Carlo simulation, survival and hazard functions, fuzzy logic, and sensitivity analysis. Understanding the nature of these methods will help readers to assess better the appropriateness of their use in published reports.

Book Reviews

Calendar

  • Calendar

  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, p. 716
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Medical News

  • New York City Outbreak Accounts for 25% of US Cases of MDR-TB

  • Gina Pugliese, Martin S. Favero
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, pp. 149-150
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  • A Highly Resistant Strain of VRE Takes over

  • Gina Pugliese, Martin S. Favero
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, p. 531
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  • SHEA Draft Guidelines for Infection Control in Hospital Personnel

  • Murray D. Batt, Charles E. Edmiston, John Heggers
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, p. 888
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  • VRE Bacteremia

  • Gina Pugliese, Martin S. Favero
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, p. 74
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Concise Communications

Medical News

  • Outbreak of Highly Contagious Tuberculosis

  • Gina Pugliese, Martin S. Favero
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 January 2015, p. 796
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Page 10 of 16