Hosp

New strategies to reduce hospital-aquired infections

The current goal to reduce sickness and death from infections that patients acquire in hospitals has created a renewed focus on identifying ways to reduce the problem at its source. Hospital water for drinking, bathing, showering, to make ice cubes or to rinse medical equipment is increasingly being recognized as a significant source of microbes that may contribute to many of these life-threateni...

Hospitalizations because of chicken pox down dramatically since implementation of vaccine

Since the introduction of the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine in 1995, hospitalizations and doctor visits because of chicken pox have dropped dramatically, according to a study in the August 17 issue of JAMA. Varicella vaccine is recommended for routine immunization of children aged 12 to 18 months and for older susceptible children and adults in the United States, according to background...

Bacteria can survive for weeks on hospital surfaces

A major cause of hospital-acquired infections can persist for days and even weeks on environmental surfaces found in healthcare settings, including bed linens, computer keyboard covers and acrylic fingernails, according to research presented today at the 105th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of ho...

Discovery that bacterium is phosphate gourmet key clue to what makes it most social of bacteria

New research into one of the world's most social bacteria - Myxococcus xanthus, has discovered that it has a gourmet style approach to its consumption of phosphates, which provides a key clue to what makes it the most "social" of bacteria. Myxococcus xanthus is amazingly social and co-operative for a bacterium. It "hunts" as a pack, it makes a collective decision with other M. xanthus whet...

One in 14 men having a heart attack drive themselves to hospital

Seven per cent of men having a heart attack drove themselves to hospital and only 60 per cent went by ambulance, according to research published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing. The study, which looked at 890 heart attack patients admitted to six major teaching hospitals in Dublin, Southern Ireland, also found that it took women five times as long as men to go to casualty depar...

Minorities, uninsured less likely to receive care at high-volume hospitals

Compared to white patients, black, Asian and Hispanic patients and those who are uninsured are less likely to undergo complex surgery at high-volume hospitals, which have been associated with better outcomes, according to a study in the October 25 issue of JAMA. Efforts to improve the quality of surgical care in the United States have led many organizations to advocate the use of high-vol...

Hospital-acquired infections -- Inevitable?

In a press conference held earlier today at Washington D.C.'s The Press Club, David B. Nash, MD, editor of The American Journal of Medical Quality, addressed hospital-acquired infections and the widespread anchoring belief ?by both healthcare professionals and patients ?that acquiring infections in the hospital is unavoidable. This concern is addressed in a special supplement to the Novemb...

Funding to tackle hospital superbugs

A novel approach to treating infectious diseases is being developed by researchers at Cardiff University. A team in the School of Medicine's Institute of Nephrology has been awarded £800,000 by the W...

Controlling antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in hospitals

In one of the first national studies on guidelines that control antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in hospitals, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. and the Richard Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center report that hospitals that follow national guidelines on controlling antibiotic use have lower rates of antibiotic resistance....

Temple University Hospital investigates treatment for cervical dysplasia

Temple University Hospital's Center For Women's Health is participating in a national study to determine the safety and effectiveness of an investigational treatment for cervical dysplasia. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 500,000 women are diagnosed with high-grade cervical dysplasia each year, with roughly 10,000 cases progressing to cervical cancer. For numerous w...

Study identifies risk factors for spread of respiratory infections in hospitals

The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China has lessons to teach hospitals on how to prevent the spread of other respiratory diseases, according to new research appearing in the April 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online. Hospitals were epicenters of SARS transmission in Guangzhou province and Hong Kong in 2003. In hospitals with espe...

Restricting hospital-based services during SARS outbreak had modest impact

Restrictions on the non-urgent use of hospital-based services that were imposed when a provincial health emergency was declared during the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in Toronto, Ontario, resulted in only modest reductions in overall admissions. In this study, Dr. Michael J. Schull and colleagues determined that restrictions on the non-urgent use of hospital-based se...