Interesting article on the possible connection between overworked/burned out nurses and hospital acquired infections: Burned-out nurses linked to more infections in patients – Vitals. Not clear whether any type of causal relationship was established here (though I doubt it). But nevertheless, this is yet another factor to consider when thinking about the transmission of microbes in …
Accidentally wandered into this year old story from what was then MSNBC: Hospital garb harbors nasty bacteria, study says. The story discusses something that is nearly always on my mind when I hear discussions of hospital acquired infections – scrubs. I am amazed, for example, at how many people from the UC Davis Veterinary School/Hospital (which …
We’ve posted in the past (here, here, here, and here) about some of the interesting work taking place at the BioBE Center regarding microbial community structure in health-care facilities. Today a paper on this topic came out in the ISME Journal. This paper is certainly worth a read for anyone interested in the microbiology of …
We’ve posted recently about studies looking at what microbes are present on the scrubs worn by medical professionals and the fact that those are often worn outside the hospital. Not surprisingly many parts of hospitals themselves harbor a range of microbes, some of which are potentially problematic. A recent study looked at what kinds of …
Just a follow up on an earlier post about microbes on hospital workers clothing. There is an interesting editorial responding to the news from the recent study that may be of interest: Second Opinion: Bacteria hitchhikes on hospital apparel – Milford, MA – The Milford Daily News. Clearly, we need to think about clothing as …
When I walk around UC Davis campus or visit areas near hospitals I am always dismayed by the number of people wearing their scrubs when they go out to lunch, seminars, or just walk around. I have always wondered whether those scrubs harbor anything nasty. Well, a new study in the American Journal of Infection Control …
Great TED talk yesterday by Jessica Green who is one of the folks in charge of the BioBE Center, another project funded by the Sloan Foundation Indoor Air Program. Here she talks about the relationship between outdoor air and mechanically vented air in hospitals.
A new paper of possible interest just came out in the Open Access journal BMC Infectious diseases: | Five-Years Surveillance of invasive Aspergillosis in a University Hospital. Perhaps of most relevance to microBEnet is the discussion in the paper of the high fraction of cases that appear to be hospital acquired and what can be done …
Well, this is a disappointing story. In 2006 and 2008 California passed some legislation with the ultimate goal of limiting hospital acquired infections. Unfortunately, enforcement and use of the legislation has faltered, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee by Deborah Schoch: Deadly bacteria lurk inside hospital wards Not much positive to report here though …
The New York Times from yesterday has an editorial discussing hospital acquired infections: Hospitals Shouldn’t Make You Sicker – NYTimes.com. They discuss some new studies in the New England Journal of Medicine as well as some efforts by the Obama Administration. While there is a lot of research on hospital acquired infections, one thing the Times …