Jeffries HE, Mason W, Brewer M, et al. Prevention of central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections in pediatric intensive care units: A performance improvement collaborative. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 2009 Jul;30(7):645-651.

The authors conclude that this improvement project demonstrated significant reduction in the rates of central venous catheter (CVC)-associated bloodstream infections in pediatric intensive care unit patients by implementing evidence-based prevention interventions, enhancing communication among caregivers, standardizing CVC insertion and maintenance processes, enhancing measurement, and empowering team members to enforce adherence to best practices.

Litzow JM, Gill CJ, Mantaring JB, et al. High frequency of multidrug-resistant gram-negative rods in 2 neonatal intensive care units in the Philippines. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 2009 Jun;30(6):543-549.

A prospective longitudinal surveillance over a 10-month period. Colonization with a drug-resistant gram-negative rod was an independent risk factor for sepsis. If our data are typical, the unusually high intensity of colonization pressure and disease caused by multidrug-resistant gram-negative rods at these NICUs indicates an emerging health care crisis in the developing world and improved infection control methods are therefore critically needed.

Perla RJ, Peden CJ, Goldmann D, Lloyd R. Health care-associated infection reporting: The need for ongoing reliability and validity assessment. American Journal of Infection Control. 2009 Oct;37(8):615-618.

This commentary addresses the challenges and opportunities of having consistent, well-defined, and continuous methods in place to ensure the reliability and validity of health care-associated infection (HAI) detection and reporting.

Consensus Measurement in Hand Hygiene Project Expert Advisory Panel. Measuring Hand Hygiene Adherence: Overcoming the Challenges. Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois: The Joint Commission; 2009.

The monograph is the result of a two-year collaboration with major infection control leadership organizations in the US and abroad to identify effective approaches for measuring adherence to hand hygiene guidelines in health care organizations. The monograph aims to broaden understanding of the issues and help health care organizations target their efforts by providing practical solutions for strengthening hand hygiene measurement and improvement activities. The full-text monograph is available free of charge.

Allen BD, Perla RJ. A long-term forecast of MRSA daily burden using logistic modeling. Clinical Laboratory Science. Winter 2009;22(1):26-29.

This article presents a logistic model that describes the mean number of unique methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected daily at a 150-bed community hospital in central Massachusetts. The authors suggest that logistic models provide reliable trending and long-term prediction ability of multi-drug resistant organism frequencies.

Perla RJ, Allen BD. A Poisson-based prediction model and warning system for MRSA daily burden. Clinical Laboratory Science. Winter 2009;22(1):22-25.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that a Poisson-based prediction model is a fast and easy way to recognize unusually high numbers of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected daily that may signal possible outbreaks. Although the study was limited to a single community health care system, the results may be generalized to other types of health care settings.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidance for Control of Infections with Carbapenem-Resistant or Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Acute Care Facilities. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. [Serial online] 2009 Mar 20;58(10):256-260.

Infection with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) or carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae is emerging as an important challenge in health care settings. This threatens to become a problem akin to MRSA. Institutions must be alert for this and other very resistant organisms (ESBL, CTX producing gram negatives, etc.) and not limit foci to C. difficile and MRSA.

Boyce JM, Pittet D, et al. Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings: Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2002;51(RR16):1-45.

To overcome barriers and lack of knowledge in health care about good hand hygiene practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee published these comprehensive guidelines. One of the principal recommendations was that waterless, alcohol-based hand rubs (liquids, gels or foams) are the preferred method for hand hygiene in most situations due to the superior efficacy of these agents in rapidly reducing bacterial counts on hands and their ease of use.

Full text available! Click view guidelines below.

Siegel JD, Rhinehart E, Jackson M, Chiarello L, and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Ifnectious Agents in Healthcare Settings 2007. Atlanta, Georgia: Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; June 2007.

An update and expansion of the 1996 Guideline for Isolation Precautions in Hospitals.

Weber DJ, Sickbert-Bennett EE, Brown VM, et al. Compliance with isolation precautions at a university hospital. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 2007 Mar;28(3):358-361.

This study used three hospital-wide observational surveys to evaluate the compliance with isolation precautions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings confirmed that there is suboptimal compliance with recommended isolation precautions and hand hygiene.