Deverick John Anderson

Journal Article Am J Transplant · April 2025 Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are an important threat to the health of solid organ transplant recipients (SOTr); data comparing outcomes of SOTr with CRE to non-SOTr with CRE are lacking. A matched cohort study was performed within 2 prospect ... Full text Link to item Cite

A deeper look at serious superficial incisional surgical site infections (SSISSIs): prevalence, impact, and implications for hospital performance rankings.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 18, 2025 Serious superficial incisional surgical site infections (SSISSIs) are a critical subset of SSIs that require surgical intervention or lead to hospital readmission. Analyzing 11,617 SSIs from 47 community hospitals, the inclusion of SSISSIs changed 30/47 ho ... Full text Link to item Cite

Natural History of Clostridioides difficile-related Disease Progression in the Two-Step Testing Era.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · January 20, 2025 IMPORTANCE: The natural history of C. difficile progression in nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) positive, toxin enzyme immunoassay-negative patients remains poorly described. Better understanding risk for subsequent disease may improve prevention str ... Full text Link to item Cite

Long-term trends in the incidence of hospital-acquired carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and antimicrobial utilization in a network of community hospitals in the Southeastern United States from 2013 to 2023.

Journal Article Infection control and hospital epidemiology · December 2024 BackgroundCarbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are an urgent threat to healthcare, but the epidemiology of these antimicrobial-resistant organisms may be evolving in some settings since the COVID-19 pandemic. An updated analysis of h ... Full text Cite

Increased mortality in hospital- compared to community-onset carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales infections.

Journal Article J Antimicrob Chemother · November 4, 2024 BACKGROUND: The CDC reported a 35% increase in hospital-onset (HO) carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) infections during the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated patient outcomes following HO and community-onset (CO) CRE bloodstream infections (BSI). ME ... Full text Link to item Cite

Postoperative outcomes after receipt of ertapenem antimicrobial prophylaxis for colon surgery: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 4, 2024 OBJECTIVE: To evaluate postoperative outcomes among patients undergoing colon surgery who receive perioperative prophylaxis with ertapenem compared to other antibiotic regimens. DESIGN AND SETTING: Multicenter retrospective cohort study among adults underg ... Full text Link to item Cite

Performance of Urinalysis Parameters in Predicting Urinary Tract Infection: Does One Size Fit All?

Journal Article Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · September 2024 In a multihospital cohort study of 3392 patients, positive urinalysis parameters had poor positive predictive value for diagnosing urinary tract infection (UTI). Combined urinalysis parameters (pyuria or nitrite) performed better than pyuria alone for ruli ... Full text Open Access Cite

Private benefit of β-lactamase dictates selection dynamics of combination antibiotic treatment.

Journal Article Nature communications · September 2024 β-lactam antibiotics have been prescribed for most bacterial infections since their discovery. However, resistance to β-lactams, mediated by β-lactamase (Bla) enzymes such as extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), has become widespread. Bla inhibitors can ... Full text Cite

Measuring the efficacy of standard and novel disinfection methods on frequently used physical therapy equipment: a 2-phase prospective randomized controlled trial.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 26, 2024 BACKGROUND: Frequently used physical therapy (PT) equipment is difficult to disinfect due to equipment material and shape. The efficacy of standard disinfection of PT equipment is poorly understood. METHODS: We completed a 2-phase prospective microbiologic ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rapid Guidelines to Address the Changing COVID-19 Pandemic.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · June 27, 2024 Full text Link to item Cite

Mycobacterium immunogenum acquisition from hospital tap water: a genomic and epidemiologic analysis.

Journal Article J Clin Microbiol · June 12, 2024 We identified 23 cases of Mycobacterium immunogenum respiratory acquisition linked to a colonized plumbing system at a new hospital addition. We conducted a genomic and epidemiologic investigation to assess for clonal acquisition of M. immunogenum from hos ... Full text Link to item Cite

The devil's in the defaults: An interrupted time-series analysis of the impact of default duration elimination on exposure to fluoroquinolone therapy.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2024 OBJECTIVE: To determine whether removal of default duration, embedded in electronic prescription (e-script), influenced antibiotic days of therapy. DESIGN: Interrupted time-series analysis. SETTING: The study was conducted across 2 community hospitals, 1 a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparative analysis of sampling and detection methods for fungal contamination on common healthcare environment surface materials.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 21, 2024 We evaluated sampling and detection methods for fungal contamination on healthcare surface materials, comparing the efficacy of foam sponges, flocked swabs, and Replicate Organism Detection And Counting (RODAC) plates alongside culture-based quantification ... Full text Link to item Cite

A cluster of three extrapulmonary Mycobacterium abscessus infections linked to well-maintained water-based heater-cooler devices.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2024 BACKGROUND: Various water-based heater-cooler devices (HCDs) have been implicated in nontuberculous mycobacteria outbreaks. Ongoing rigorous surveillance for healthcare-associated M. abscessus (HA-Mab) put in place following a prior institutional outbreak ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of minimally invasive surgical approaches on surgical-site infections.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2024 We performed a literature review to describe the risk of surgical-site infection (SSI) in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) compared to standard open surgery. Most studies reported decreased SSI rates among patients undergoing MIS compared to open procedure ... Full text Link to item Cite

Proposing the "Continuum of UTI" for a Nuanced Approach to Diagnosis and Management of Urinary Tract Infections.

Journal Article J Urol · May 2024 PURPOSE: Patients with suspected UTIs are categorized into 3 clinical phenotypes based on current guidelines: no UTI, asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), or UTI. However, all patients may not fit neatly into these groups. Our objective was to characterize clin ... Full text Link to item Cite

Risk Factors for and Outcomes Following Early Acquisition of Mycobacterium abscessus Complex After Lung Transplantation.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · May 2024 BACKGROUND: Lung transplant recipients are at increased risk of Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC) acquisition and invasive infection. We analyzed risk factors and outcomes of early post-lung transplant MABC acquisition. METHODS: We conducted a retrosp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Racial disparities in Clostridioides difficile testing in three southeastern US hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2024 OBJECTIVE: To analyze Clostridioides difficile testing in 3 hospitals in central North Carolina to validate previous racial health-disparity findings. METHODS: We completed a retrospective analysis of inpatient C. difficile tests from 2015 to 2021 at 3 uni ... Full text Link to item Cite

Implementation of a diagnostic stewardship intervention to improve blood-culture utilization in 2 surgical ICUs: Time for a blood-culture change.

Journal Article Infection control and hospital epidemiology · April 2024 ObjectiveWe compared the number of blood-culture events before and after the introduction of a blood-culture algorithm and provider feedback. Secondary objectives were the comparison of blood-culture positivity and negative safety signals before a ... Full text Cite

CDC's Hospital-Onset Clostridioides difficile Prevention Framework in a Regional Hospital Network.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · March 4, 2024 IMPORTANCE: Despite modest reductions in the incidence of hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection (HO-CDI), CDI remains a leading cause of health care-associated infection. As no single intervention has proven highly effective on its own, a multi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Low antibody levels associated with significantly increased rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a highly vaccinated population from the US National Basketball Association

Conference Journal of Medical Virology · March 1, 2024 SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels may serve as a correlate for immunity and could inform optimal booster timing. The relationship between antibody levels and protection from infection was evaluated in vaccinated individuals from the US National Basketball Associa ... Full text Cite

Identification of carbapenem-resistant organism (CRO) contamination of in-room sinks in intensive care units in a new hospital bed tower.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2024 BACKGROUND: The origins and timing of inpatient room sink contamination with carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs) are poorly understood. METHODS: We performed a prospective observational study to describe the timing, rate, and frequency of CRO contaminati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Healthcare Provider N95 Respirator Contamination Worn Behind Face Shields With SARS-CoV-2 During Routine Clinical Care of Patients With COVID-19.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · March 2024 N95 respirator contamination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during clinical care of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 is poorly understood. We performed a prospective observational study on healthcare provider's (HCP ... Full text Link to item Cite

Low antibody levels associated with significantly increased rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a highly vaccinated population from the US National Basketball Association.

Journal Article J Med Virol · March 2024 SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels may serve as a correlate for immunity and could inform optimal booster timing. The relationship between antibody levels and protection from infection was evaluated in vaccinated individuals from the US National Basketball Associa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical Outcomes and Bacterial Characteristics of Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Among Patients From Different Global Regions.

Journal Article Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · February 2024 BackgroundCarbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAb) is 1 of the most problematic antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. We sought to elucidate the international epidemiology and clinical impact of CRAb.MethodsIn a prospective observa ... Full text Cite

A 7-year analysis of attributable costs of healthcare-associated infections in a network of community hospitals in the southeastern United States.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2024 We calculated the attributable cost of several healthcare-associated infections in a community hospital network: central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), hospital-onset Clostridioides ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evidence gaps among systematic reviews examining the relationship of race, ethnicity, and social determinants of health with adult inpatient quality measures.

Journal Article Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol · 2024 BACKGROUND: The field of healthcare epidemiology is increasingly focused on identifying, characterizing, and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) to address inequities in healthcare quality. To identify evidence gaps, we examined recent systemat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Risk Factors for Recurrence of Community-Onset Urinary Tract Infections Caused by Extended-Spectrum Cephalosporin-Resistant Enterobacterales.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · December 2023 BACKGROUND: Extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales (ESCrE) are an increasingly important cause of community-onset urinary tract infections (UTIs), including recurrent infections. We evaluated risk factors for recurrence among patients w ... Full text Link to item Cite

The "Bubble": What Can Be Learned from the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2019-20 Season Restart in Orlando during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Journal Article J Appl Lab Med · November 2, 2023 BACKGROUND: The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. To safely complete the 2019-20 season, the NBA created a closed campus in Orlando, Florida, known as the NBA "Bubble." More than ... Full text Link to item Cite

Disparities in central line-associated bloodstream infection and catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates: An exploratory analysis.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2023 This retrospective review of 4-year surveillance data revealed a higher central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rate in non-Hispanic Black patients and higher catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) rates in Asian and non-Hispani ... Full text Link to item Cite

..úNo touch..Ñ methods for health care room disinfection: Focus on clinical trials.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · November 2023 BACKGROUND: Hospital patient room surfaces are frequently contaminated with multidrug-resistant organisms. Since studies have demonstrated that inadequate terminal room disinfection commonly occurs, ..úno touch..Ñ methods of terminal room disinfection have ... Full text Link to item Cite

Biofilms on medical instruments and surfaces: Do they interfere with instrument reprocessing and surface disinfection.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · November 2023 BACKGROUND: Biofilms are surface-attached communities of bacteria embedded in an extracellular matrix. This matrix shields the resident cells from desiccation, chemical perturbation, invasion by other bacteria, and confers reduced susceptibility to antibio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessing the Impact of 2-Step Clostridioides difficile Testing at the Healthcare Facility Level.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · October 5, 2023 BACKGROUND: Two-step testing for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) aims to improve diagnostic specificity but may also influence reported epidemiology and patterns of treatment. Some providers fear that 2-step testing may result in adverse outcomes ... Full text Link to item Cite

Viral kinetics of sequential SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Journal Article Nat Commun · October 5, 2023 The impact of a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection on the progression of subsequent infections has been unclear. Using a convenience sample of 94,812 longitudinal RT-qPCR measurements from anterior nares and oropharyngeal swabs, we identified 71 individuals with t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Central-line-associated bloodstream infections secondary to anaerobes: Time for a definition change?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2023 Full text Link to item Cite

Executive Summary: A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute-Care Hospitals: 2022 Updates.

Journal Article Infection control and hospital epidemiology · October 2023 Full text Cite

Introduction to A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections In Acute-Care Hospitals: 2022 Updates.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2023 Since the initial publication of A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals in 2008, the prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has continued to be a national priority. Progress in healthca ... Full text Link to item Cite

A comparison of methods for microbiologic environmental sampling.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2023 We compared the effectiveness of 4 sampling methods to recover Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Clostridioides difficile from contaminated environmental surfaces: cotton swabs, RODAC culture plates, sponge sticks with manual agitation, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparing Natural Language Processing and Structured Medical Data to Develop a Computable Phenotype for Patients Hospitalized Due to COVID-19: Retrospective Analysis.

Journal Article JMIR Med Inform · August 22, 2023 BACKGROUND: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals conducted routine testing of hospitalized patients for SARS-CoV-2 infection upon admission. Some of these patients are admitted for reasons unrelated to COVID-19 and incidentally test positive fo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Colon surgical-site infections and the impact of "present at the time of surgery (PATOS)" in a large network of community hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2023 OBJECTIVES: To describe the epidemiology of complex colon surgical procedures (COLO), stratified by present at time of surgery (PATOS) surgical-site infections (SSIs) and non-PATOS SSIs and their impact on the epidemiology of colon-surgery SSIs. DESIGN: Re ... Full text Link to item Cite

Factors associated with antibody titer levels among an occupational cohort of fully vaccinated individuals and subsequent risk of COVID-19 infection: A cohort study.

Journal Article J Med Virol · August 2023 This study (1) determined the association of time since initial vaccine regimen, booster dose receipt, and COVID-19 history with antibody titer, as well as change in titer levels over a defined period, and (2) determined risk of COVID-19 associated with lo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Disinfection efficacy of Oxivir TB wipe residue on severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 19, 2023 We assessed Oxivir Tb wipe disinfectant residue in a controlled laboratory setting to evaluate low environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2. Frequency of viral RNA detection was not statistically different between intervention and control arms on day 3 (P ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparing Natural Language Processing and Structured Medical Data to Develop a Computable Phenotype for Patients Hospitalized Due to COVID-19: Retrospective Analysis.

Journal Article JMIR Med Inform · June 17, 2023 BACKGROUND: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals conducted routine testing of hospitalized patients for SARS-CoV-2 infection upon admission. Some of these patients are admitted for reasons unrelated to COVID-19, and incidentally test positive f ... Full text Link to item Cite

Anatomy of an American football game: Player-to-player contact before, during and after an NFL game in context of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Journal Article Phys Sportsmed · June 2023 OBJECTIVES: To quantify levels of potential exposure to SARS-CoV-2 surrounding a typical professional American football game, with a focus on interactions on-field between teammates and opposing players before, during, and immediately after competition. ME ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of alcohol-based hand-rub disinfection on bacterial bioburden on stethoscopes in a real-world clinical setting.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2023 In this randomized study, use of alcohol-based hand-rub disinfection significantly reduced bacterial bioburden of stethoscopes in routine clinical use. Prior cleaning of stethoscopes on the study day did not affect baseline contamination rates, which sugge ... Full text Link to item Cite

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization in children with cerebral palsy.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2023 A retrospective cohort of children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with cerebral palsy was matched 1:3 by age and admission year to determine odds of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nasal colonization. Adjusted odds ... Full text Link to item Cite

Harvesting the low-hanging fruit? Comparative assessment of intravenous to oral route antimicrobial conversion policy implementation.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2023 Policies that promote conversion of antibiotics from intravenous to oral route administration are considered "low hanging fruit" for hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs. We developed a simple metric based on digestive days of therapy divided by tot ... Full text Link to item Cite

Infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship program needs and practices in 2021: A survey of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Research Network.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2023 In total, 50 healthcare facilities completed a survey in 2021 to characterize changes in infection prevention and control and antibiotic stewardship practices. Notable findings include sustained surveillance for multidrug-resistant organisms but decreased ... Full text Link to item Cite

Strategies to prevent surgical site infections in acute-care hospitals: 2022 Update.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2023 The intent of this document is to highlight practical recommendations in a concise format designed to assist acute-care hospitals in implementing and prioritizing their surgical-site infection (SSI) prevention efforts. This document updates the Strategies ... Full text Link to item Cite

Use of Statistical Process Control Methods for Early Detection of Healthcare Facility-Associated Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Outbreaks: A Single-Center Pilot Study.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · April 17, 2023 BACKGROUND: Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are emerging pathogens increasingly implicated in healthcare facility-associated (HCFA) infections and outbreaks. We analyzed the performance of statistical process control (SPC) methods in detecting HCFA NTM o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measuring empiric antibiotic spectrum-A journey through space and time.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2023 OBJECTIVES: The typical 5-day work week affects healthcare outcomes. Structured work hours have also been implicated in antimicrobial prescribing choice. We developed a visualization tool to aid in evaluating breadth of antibiotic use in various time (day ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical site infection trends in community hospitals from 2013 to 2018.

Journal Article Infection control and hospital epidemiology · April 2023 ObjectiveSparse recent data are available on the epidemiology of surgical site infections (SSIs) in community hospitals. Our objective was to provide updated epidemiology data on complex SSIs in community hospitals and to characterize trends of SS ... Full text Cite

Hydroxychloroquine for pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 in health care workers: a randomized, multicenter, placebo-controlled trial Healthcare Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes of Hydroxychloroquine (HERO-HCQ).

Conference Int J Infect Dis · April 2023 OBJECTIVES: To determine whether hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 infections among health care workers (HCWs). METHODS: In a 1: 1 randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group, superiority trial at 34 US ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Disproportionate Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Healthcare-Associated Infections in Community Hospitals: Need for Expanding the Infectious Disease Workforce.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · February 8, 2023 BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a considerable impact on US healthcare systems, straining hospital resources, staff, and operations. However, a comprehensive assessment of the impact on healthcare-associated infections (HAI ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of an Opt-Out Protocol for Antibiotic De-Escalation in Patients With Suspected Sepsis: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · February 8, 2023 BACKGROUND: Sepsis guidelines recommend daily review to de-escalate or stop antibiotics in appropriate patients. This randomized, controlled trial evaluated an opt-out protocol to decrease unnecessary antibiotics in patients with suspected sepsis. METHODS: ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response on hospital infection prevention programs and practices in the southeastern United States.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2023 Initial assessments of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) preparedness revealed resource shortages and variations in infection prevention policies across US hospitals. Our follow-up survey revealed improvement in resource availability, increase in testing ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of hospital blood culture utilization rates to identify opportunities for diagnostic stewardship.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2023 OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the pattern of blood-culture utilization among a cohort of 6 hospitals to identify potential opportunities for diagnostic stewardship. METHODS: We completed a retrospective analysis of blood-culture utilization during adult inpatien ... Full text Link to item Cite

Optimizing reflex urine cultures: Using a population-specific approach to diagnostic stewardship.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2023 BACKGROUND: Clinicians and laboratories routinely use urinalysis (UA) parameters to determine whether antimicrobial treatment and/or urine cultures are needed. Yet the performance of individual UA parameters and common thresholds for action are not well de ... Full text Link to item Cite

Monkeypox: recognition and prevention in sports.

Journal Article Br J Sports Med · February 2023 Full text Link to item Cite

Review of antibiotic prescriptions as part of antimicrobial stewardship programmes: results from a pilot implementation at two provincial-level hospitals in Viet Nam.

Journal Article JAC Antimicrob Resist · February 2023 OBJECTIVES: To investigate the feasibility of retrospective prescription-based review and to describe the antibiotic prescribing patterns to provide information for an antimicrobial stewardship programme in Viet Nam. METHODS: This study was conducted in tw ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical Site Infection Prevention: A Review.

Journal Article JAMA · January 17, 2023 IMPORTANCE: Approximately 0.5% to 3% of patients undergoing surgery will experience infection at or adjacent to the surgical incision site. Compared with patients undergoing surgery who do not have a surgical site infection, those with a surgical site infe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Response to "Severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) surface contamination in staff common areas and impact on healthcare worker infection: Prospective surveillance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic".

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2023 Full text Link to item Cite

Using the COM-B model to identify barriers to and facilitators of evidence-based nurse urine-culture practices.

Journal Article Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol · 2023 Our surveys of nurses modeled after the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation Model of Behavior (COM-B model) revealed that opportunity and motivation factors heavily influence urine-culture practices (behavior), in addition to knowledge (capability). Un ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Association Between COVID-19 Booster Vaccination and Omicron Infection in a Cohort of Players and Staff in the National Basketball Association-Reply.

Journal Article JAMA · December 6, 2022 Full text Link to item Cite

Challenges in hospital-acquired coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surveillance and attribution of infection source.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · December 2022 We performed surveillance for hospital-acquired COVID-19 (HA-COVID-19) and compared time-based, electronic definitions to real-time adjudication of the most likely source of acquisition. Without real-time adjudication, nearly 50% of HA-COVID-19 cases ident ... Full text Link to item Cite

Poor outcomes in both infection and colonization with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales.

Journal Article Infection control and hospital epidemiology · December 2022 ObjectivesTo describe the epidemiology of patients with nonintestinal carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) colonization and to compare clinical outcomes of these patients to those with CRE infection.DesignA secondary analysis of Co ... Full text Cite

Early recognition and response to increases in surgical site infections using optimised statistical process control charts-The early 2RIS trial: A multicentre stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial.

Journal Article EClinicalMedicine · December 2022 BACKGROUND: Traditional approaches for surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance have deficiencies that delay detection of SSI outbreaks and other clinically important increases in SSI rates. We investigated whether use of optimised statistical process co ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Quantifying the impact of immune history and variant on SARS-CoV-2 viral kinetics and infection rebound: A retrospective cohort study.

Journal Article Elife · November 16, 2022 BACKGROUND: The combined impact of immunity and SARS-CoV-2 variants on viral kinetics during infections has been unclear. METHODS: We characterized 1,280 infections from the National Basketball Association occupational health cohort identified between June ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of metrics used to track central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) across a regional network.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2022 The paradoxical relationship between standardized infection ratio and standardized utilization ratio for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) in contrast to central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), in addition to CAUTI def ... Full text Link to item Cite

An Enhanced Strategy for Daily Disinfection in Acute Care Hospital Rooms: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal Article JAMA network open · November 2022 ImportanceEnvironmental contamination is a source of transmission between patients, health care practitioners, and other stakeholders in the acute care setting.ObjectiveTo compare the efficacy of an enhanced daily disinfection strategy vs ... Full text Cite

Characteristics of community-acquired carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales.

Journal Article J Antimicrob Chemother · September 30, 2022 BACKGROUND: Community-acquired carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CA-CRE) are an important threat. METHODS: In CRACKLE-2, we defined patients with CA-CRE as admitted from home, without pre-existing conditions, and a positive culture within 48 h of admi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identifying context-specific domains for assessing antimicrobial stewardship programmes in Asia: protocol for a scoping review.

Journal Article BMJ Open · September 15, 2022 INTRODUCTION: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is an important strategy to control antimicrobial resistance. Resources are available to provide guidance for design and implementation of AMS programmes, however these may have limited applicability in resourc ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Impact of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services SEP-1 Core Measure Implementation on Antibacterial Utilization: A Retrospective Multicenter Longitudinal Cohort Study With Interrupted Time-Series Analysis.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · August 31, 2022 BACKGROUND: The impact of the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock: Management Bundle (SEP-1) core measure on overall antibacterial utilization is unknown. METHODS: We performed a retrospective multicenter longit ... Full text Link to item Cite

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 environmental contamination in hospital rooms is uncommon using viral culture techniques.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · August 24, 2022 We assessed environmental contamination of inpatient rooms housing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in a dedicated COVID-19 unit. Contamination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was found on 5.5% (19/347) of surfaces via reve ... Full text Link to item Cite

Use of Contact Networks to Estimate Potential Pathogen Risk Exposure in Hospitals.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · August 1, 2022 IMPORTANCE: Person-to-person contact is important for the transmission of health care-associated pathogens. Quantifying these contact patterns is crucial for modeling disease transmission and understanding routes of potential transmission. OBJECTIVE: To ge ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association Between COVID-19 Booster Vaccination and Omicron Infection in a Highly Vaccinated Cohort of Players and Staff in the National Basketball Association.

Journal Article JAMA · July 12, 2022 This study compares the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in players and staff of the National Basketball Association (NBA) who did vs those who did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose. ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of patient-reported penicillin or cephalosporin allergy on surgical site infections.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2022 OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of a documented penicillin or cephalosporin allergy on the development of surgical site infections (SSIs). BACKGROUND: Appropriate preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis reduces SSI risk, but documented antibiotic allergies ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of Antibiotic Stewardship Rounds in the Intensive Care Setting: A Prospective Cluster-Randomized Crossover Study.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · June 10, 2022 BACKGROUND: Few groups have formally studied the effect of dedicated antibiotic stewardship rounds (ASRs) on antibiotic use (AU) in intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS: We implemented weekly ASRs using a 2-arm, cluster-randomized, crossover study in 5 ICU ... Full text Link to item Cite

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Reinfection: A Case Series From a 12-Month Longitudinal Occupational Cohort.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · May 3, 2022 Findings are described in 7 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reinfection from the National Basketball Association 2020-2021 occupational testing cohort, including clinical details, antibody test results, genomic sequencing, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effectiveness and use of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction point of care testing in a large-scale COVID-19 surveillance system.

Journal Article Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · May 2022 BACKGROUND: Rapid COVID-19 testing platforms can identify infected individuals at the point of care (POC), allowing immediate isolation of infected individuals and reducing the risk of transmission. While lab-based nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) ... Full text Link to item Cite

Medical transport-associated infection: Review and commentary making a case for its legitimacy.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2022 The purpose of this article is to summarize existing literature about healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in the medical transport environment and to define the term medical transport-associated infection (MTAI) to unify all previous work under a single ... Full text Link to item Cite

Burden of healthcare-associated infections among hospitalized children within community hospitals participating in an infection control network.

Journal Article Infection control and hospital epidemiology · April 2022 We describe the frequency of pediatric healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) identified through prospective surveillance in community hospitals participating in an infection control network. Over a 6-year period, 84 HAIs were identified. Of these 51 (61% ... Full text Cite

Risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) acquisition during ambulance transport: A retrospective propensity-score-matched cohort analysis.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2022 OBJECTIVE: To estimate the relative risk (RR) of developing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) colonization or infection within 30 days of ambulance transport. METHODS: We performed a retrospective ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Impact of Infection Versus Colonization on Clostridioides difficile Environmental Contamination in Hospitalized Patients With Diarrhea.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · April 2022 BACKGROUND: Patients with Clostridioides difficile infections (CDIs) contaminate the healthcare environment; however, the relative contribution of contamination by colonized individuals is unknown. Current guidelines do not recommend the use of contact pre ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of Oral Metronidazole, Vancomycin, and Fidaxomicin on Host Shedding and Environmental Contamination With Clostridioides difficile.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · March 1, 2022 BACKGROUND: Shedding of Clostridioides difficile spores from infected individuals contaminates the hospital environment and contributes to infection transmission. We assessed whether antibiotic selection affects C. difficile shedding and contamination of t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Susceptibility of human papillomavirus 16 to disinfectants.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2022 Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical outcomes and bacterial characteristics of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae complex among patients from different global regions (CRACKLE-2): a prospective, multicentre, cohort study.

Journal Article The Lancet. Infectious diseases · March 2022 BackgroundCarbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) is a global threat. We therefore analysed the bacterial characteristics of CRKP infections and the clinical outcomes of patients with CRKP infections across different countries.Method ... Full text Open Access Cite

Impact of Education and Data Feedback on Guideline-Concordant Prescribing for Urinary Tract Infections in the Outpatient Setting.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · March 2022 BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common outpatient indication for antibiotics and an important target for antimicrobial stewardship (AS) activities. With The Joint Commission standards now requiring outpatient AS, data supporting ef ... Full text Link to item Cite

Results from a Test-to-Release from Isolation Strategy Among Fully Vaccinated National Football League Players and Staff Members with COVID-19 - United States, December 14-19, 2021.

Journal Article MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep · February 25, 2022 During December 2021, the United States experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases, coinciding with predominance of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant (1). During this surge, the National Football League (NFL) and NFL Players Association (NFLPA) adjuste ... Full text Link to item Cite

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) research agenda for healthcare epidemiology.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2022 This SHEA white paper identifies knowledge gaps and challenges in healthcare epidemiology research related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with a focus on core principles of healthcare epidemiology. These gaps, revealed during the worst phases of th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Well-being tradeoffs: Effect of loosening overnight restrictions on antimicrobial starts.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2022 Full text Link to item Cite

Opportunities for Improving Antimicrobial Stewardship: Findings From a Prospective, Multi-Center Study in Three Low- or Middle-Income Countries.

Journal Article Front Public Health · 2022 BACKGROUND: To develop effective antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), it is important to identify key targets for improving antimicrobial use. We sought to systematically describe the prevalence and patter ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association between antibody titer levels, time from COVID-19 vaccine and booster receipt among an occupational cohort of fully vaccinated individuals

Conference PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY · 2022 Cite

Development of an Electronic Definition for De-escalation of Antibiotics in Hospitalized Patients.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · December 6, 2021 BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) promote the principle of de-escalation: moving from broad- to narrow-spectrum agents and stopping antibiotics when no longer indicated. A standard, objective definition of de-escalation applied to elect ... Full text Link to item Cite

Electronically Available Patient Claims Data Improve Models for Comparing Antibiotic Use Across Hospitals: Results From 576 US Facilities.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · December 6, 2021 BACKGROUND: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses standardized antimicrobial administration ratios (SAARs)-that is, observed-to-predicted ratios-to compare antibiotic use across facilities. CDC models adjust for facility characteristics ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical Site Infections.

Chapter · December 2021 Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most common and most costly health care-associated infections, leading to adverse patient outcomes and death. Wound contamination occurs with each incision, but proven strategies exist to decrease the risk of S ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effectiveness of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine among U.S. Health Care Personnel.

Journal Article The New England journal of medicine · December 2021 BackgroundThe prioritization of U.S. health care personnel for early receipt of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), allowed ... Full text Cite

Surgical Site Infections

Journal Article Infectious Disease Clinics of North America · December 1, 2021 Full text Cite

Viral Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Persons.

Journal Article The New England journal of medicine · December 2021 Full text Cite

Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidelines on Infection Prevention for Healthcare Personnel Caring for Patients with Suspected or Known COVID-19.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · November 15, 2021 BACKGROUND: Since its emergence in late 2019, SARS-CoV-2 continues to pose a risk to healthcare personnel (HCP) and patients in healthcare settings. Although all clinical interactions likely carry some risk of transmission, human actions like coughing and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of a Collaborative, Community Hospital Network for Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Implementation.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · November 2, 2021 BACKGROUND: Individual hospitals may lack expertise, data resources, and educational tools to support antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP). METHODS: We established a collaborative, consultative network focused on hospital ASP implementation. Services i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Virtual infection prevention-The next frontier.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2021 The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in the acceleration of telehealth and remote environments as stakeholders and healthcare systems respond to the threat of this disease. How can infectious diseases and healthcare epidemiology ex ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessing feasibility of establishing antimicrobial stewardship programmes in two provincial-level hospitals in Vietnam: an implementation research study.

Journal Article BMJ Open · October 1, 2021 OBJECTIVES: To investigate the feasibility of establishing hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes comprising action-planning, educational interventions and data feedback in two provincial-level hospitals in Viet Nam. DESIGN AND SETTING: ... Full text Link to item Cite

Tap Water Avoidance Decreases Rates of Hospital-onset Pulmonary Nontuberculous Mycobacteria.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · August 2, 2021 We analyzed the impact of a hospital tap water avoidance protocol on respiratory isolation of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). After protocol implementation, hospital-onset episodes of respiratory NTM isolation on high-risk units decreased from 41.0 to 9 ... Full text Link to item Cite

Optimizing SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance in the United States: Insights From the National Football League Occupational Health Program.

Journal Article Ann Intern Med · August 2021 BACKGROUND: Evidence to understand effective strategies for surveillance and early detection of SARS-CoV-2 is limited. OBJECTIVE: To describe the results of a rigorous, large-scale COVID-19 testing and monitoring program. DESIGN: The U.S. National Football ... Full text Link to item Cite

Significant Regional Differences in Antibiotic Use Across 576 US Hospitals and 11 701 326 Adult Admissions, 2016-2017.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · July 15, 2021 BACKGROUND: Quantifying the amount and diversity of antibiotic use in United States hospitals assists antibiotic stewardship efforts but is hampered by limited national surveillance. Our study aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining adult antibiot ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chlorhexidine for skin antisepsis: making the case to keep peripheral venous catheters CLEAN.

Journal Article Lancet Infect Dis · July 2021 Full text Link to item Cite

SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Risk Among National Basketball Association Players, Staff, and Vendors Exposed to Individuals With Positive Test Results After COVID-19 Recovery During the 2020 Regular and Postseason.

Journal Article JAMA Intern Med · July 1, 2021 IMPORTANCE: Clinical data are lacking regarding the risk of viral transmission from individuals who have positive reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) SARS-CoV-2 test results after recovery from COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: To describe case cha ... Full text Link to item Cite

Viral dynamics of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and applications to diagnostic and public health strategies.

Journal Article PLoS Biol · July 2021 SARS-CoV-2 infections are characterized by viral proliferation and clearance phases and can be followed by low-level persistent viral RNA shedding. The dynamics of viral RNA concentration, particularly in the early stages of infection, can inform clinical ... Full text Link to item Cite

Are we forgetting the "universal" in universal masking? Current challenges and future solutions.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2021 Full text Link to item Cite

Interim Estimates of Vaccine Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 Vaccines Among Health Care Personnel - 33 U.S. Sites, January-March 2021.

Journal Article MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep · May 21, 2021 Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, health care personnel (HCP) have been at high risk for exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, through patient interactions and community exposure (1). The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recom ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessing severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) preparedness in US community hospitals: A forgotten entity.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2021 We performed a cross-sectional survey of infection preventionists in 60 US community hospitals between April 22 and May 8, 2020. Several differences in hospital preparedness for SARS-CoV-2 emerged with respect to personal protective equipment conservation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of a Pharmacist-Led Penicillin Allergy Assessment Program and Allergy Delabeling in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Journal Article JAMA network open · May 2021 ImportancePenicillin allergies are frequently mislabeled, which may contribute to use of less-preferred alternative antibiotics.ObjectiveTo evaluate a pharmacist-led allergy assessment program's association with antimicrobial use and clin ... Full text Cite

Invasive Mycobacterium abscessus Complex Infection After Cardiac Surgery: Epidemiology, Management, and Clinical Outcomes.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · April 8, 2021 BACKGROUND: We recently mitigated a clonal outbreak of hospital-acquired Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC), which included a large cluster of adult patients who developed invasive infection after exposure to heater-cooler units during cardiac surgery. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of preoperative chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) application methods on preoperative CHG skin concentration.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2021 Elective surgical patients routinely bathe with chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) at home days prior to their procedures. However, the impact of home CHG bathing on surgical site CHG concentration is unclear. We examined 3 different methods of applying CHG and ... Full text Link to item Cite

VanA rectal swab screening as a predictor of subsequent vancomycin-resistant enterococcal bloodstream infection in critically ill adults.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2021 OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether vanA rectal screening for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) predicts vancomycin resistance for patients with enterococcal bloodstream infection (BSI). DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Large academic medica ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of Cloth Masks and Modified Procedure Masks as Personal Protective Equipment for the Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Journal Article JAMA Intern Med · April 1, 2021 IMPORTANCE: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the general public has been advised to wear masks or improvised face coverings to limit transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, there has be ... Full text Link to item Cite

Barriers to implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs in three low- and middle-income country tertiary care settings: findings from a multi-site qualitative study.

Journal Article Antimicrob Resist Infect Control · March 25, 2021 BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance has been named as one of the top ten threats to public health in the world. Hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) can help reduce antimicrobial resistance. The purpose of this study was to determine p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Estimated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Decolonization in Intensive Care Units Associated With Single-Application Chlorhexidine Gluconate or Mupirocin.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · March 1, 2021 IMPORTANCE: Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) and mupirocin are widely used to decolonize patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and reduce risks associated with infection in hospitalized populations. Quantifying the association of an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Development of a Machine Learning Model Using Electronic Health Record Data to Identify Antibiotic Use Among Hospitalized Patients.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · March 1, 2021 IMPORTANCE: Comparisons of antimicrobial use among hospitals are difficult to interpret owing to variations in patient case mix. Risk-adjustment strategies incorporating larger numbers of variables haves been proposed as a method to improve comparisons for ... Full text Link to item Cite

Microbial Assessment of Health Care-Associated Pathogens on Various Environmental Sites in Patient Rooms After Terminal Room Disinfection.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · February 2021 We examined the microbial burden on hospital room environmental sites after standard (quaternary ammonium [Quat]) or enhanced disinfection (quat/ultraviolet light [UV-C], bleach, or bleach/UV-C). An enhanced terminal room disinfection reduced the microbial ... Full text Link to item Cite

Implementation and Evolution of Mitigation Measures, Testing, and Contact Tracing in the National Football League, August 9-November 21, 2020.

Journal Article MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep · January 29, 2021 The National Football League (NFL) and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) began the 2020 football season in July, implementing extensive mitigation and surveillance measures in facilities and during travel and gameplay. Mitigation protocols* were evaluate ... Full text Link to item Cite

Population testing for COVID-19: An exemplary approach for ruling out false positive results

Conference PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY · 2021 Cite

Population testing for COVID-19: Can a rapid antigen test rule out infection?

Conference PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY · 2021 Cite

A modified Delphi approach to develop a trial protocol for antibiotic de-escalation in patients with suspected sepsis.

Journal Article Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol · 2021 BACKGROUND: Early administration of antibiotics in sepsis is associated with improved patient outcomes, but safe and generalizable approaches to de-escalate or discontinue antibiotics after suspected sepsis events are unknown. METHODS: We used a modified D ... Full text Link to item Cite

Viral dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 variants in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals

Preprint · 2021 Full text Cite

Navigating reflex urine culture practices in community hospitals: Need for a validated approach.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · December 2020 We performed a descriptive study of reflex urine culture (RUC) practices across 51 community hospitals in southeastern United States. We found that 26 unique reflexing criteria were used in 28 hospitals. Only 14% hospitals of hospitals that offered RUC res ... Full text Link to item Cite

Early recognition and response to increases in surgical site infections using optimized statistical process control charts-the Early 2RIS Trial: a multicenter cluster randomized controlled trial with stepped wedge design.

Journal Article Trials · October 28, 2020 BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections (SSIs) cause significant patient suffering. Surveillance and feedback of SSI rates is an evidence-based strategy to reduce SSIs, but traditional surveillance methods are slow and prone to bias. The objective of this clu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Policies and practices of SHEA Research Network hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2020 To understand hospital policies and practices as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) conducted a survey through the SHEA Research Network (SRN). The survey assessed policies and practices around the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measuring the impact of continuous disinfection strategies on environmental burden in outpatient settings: A prospective randomized controlled trial

Journal Article Open Forum Infectious Diseases · October 1, 2020 Background. Our primary objective was to determine the effectiveness of 2 enhanced disinfection strategies compared with standard disinfection: “near-UV” light (Arm 1) and a persistent organosilane quaternary ammonium disinfectant (Arm 2) using a triple-bl ... Full text Cite

Measuring Empiric Antibiotic Spectrum Patterns Across Space and Time

Conference INFECTION CONTROL AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY · October 2020 Link to item Cite

Alcohol Hand Rub Significantly Reduces Overall Bacterial Bioburden on Stethoscopes in a Real-World Clinical Setting

Conference Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · October 2020 Background: Stethoscopes are a known vector for microbial transmission; however, common strategies used to clean stethoscopes pose certain barriers that prevent routine cleaning after every use. We aimed to determine whether ... Full text Cite

Efficacy of UV-C Disinfection in Hyperbaric Chambers

Conference Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · October 2020 Background: UV-C light reduces contamination of high-touch clinical surfaces. Few studies have tested the relative efficacy of UV-C devices in real-world clinical environments. Methods: We assessed the ... Full text Cite

Significant Regional Differences in Antibiotic Use Across 576 US Hospitals and 11,701,326 Million Admissions, 2016–2017

Conference Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · October 2020 Background: Reducing inappropriate antibiotic use is critical for fighting antibiotic resistance. Quantifying the amount and diversity of antibiotic use in US hospitals is foundational to these efforts but hampered by limited ... Full text Cite

Comparison of Metrics Used to Track CLABSIs and CAUTIs Across a Regional Network

Conference Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · October 2020 Background: The standardized infection ratio (SIR) is the nationally adopted metric used to track and compare catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and central-line– associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) ... Full text Cite

Universal masking in hospitals in the COVID-19 era: Is it time to consider shielding?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2020 With concerns for presymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 and increasing burden of contact tracing and employee furloughs, several hospitals have supplemented pre-existing infection prevention measures with universal masking of all personnel in hospitals. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Efficacy of UV-C disinfection in hyperbaric chambers.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2020 Ultraviolet C (UV-C) light reduces contamination on high-touch clinical surfaces. We assessed the efficacy of 2 UV-C devices at eradicating important clinical pathogens in hyperbaric chambers. Both devices were similarly efficacious against MRSA but differ ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Temporal encoding of bacterial identity and traits in growth dynamics.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · August 18, 2020 In biology, it is often critical to determine the identity of an organism and phenotypic traits of interest. Whole-genome sequencing can be useful for this but has limited power for trait prediction. However, we can take advantage of the inherent informati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidelines on Infection Prevention for Health Care Personnel Caring for Patients with Suspected or Known COVID-19.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · July 27, 2020 BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 is a highly transmissible virus that can infect health care personnel and patients in health care settings. Specific care activities, in particular aerosol-generating procedures, may have a higher risk of transmission. The rapid emer ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Role of Chest Imaging in Patient Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Consensus Statement from the Fleischner Society.

Journal Article Radiology · July 2020 With more than 900 000 confirmed cases worldwide and nearly 50 000 deaths during the first 3 months of 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented health care crisis. The spread of COVID-19 has been heterogeneous, ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Role of Chest Imaging in Patient Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Consensus Statement From the Fleischner Society.

Journal Article Chest · July 2020 With more than 900,000 confirmed cases worldwide and nearly 50,000 deaths during the first 3 months of 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented health care crisis. The spread of COVID-19 has been heterogeneous, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Large-scale empirical optimisation of statistical control charts to detect clinically relevant increases in surgical site infection rates.

Journal Article BMJ Qual Saf · June 2020 OBJECTIVE: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are common costly hospital-acquired conditions. While statistical process control (SPC) use in healthcare has increased, limited rigorous empirical research compares and optimises these methods for SSI surveillanc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reply to Eric Schlote regarding "Evaluation of dilute hydrogen peroxide technology for continuous room decontamination of multidrug-resistant organisms".

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2020 Full text Link to item Cite

Use of optimised dual statistical process control charts for early detection of surgical site infection outbreaks.

Journal Article BMJ Qual Saf · June 2020 Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of molecular testing on reported Clostridoides difficile infection rates.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2020 BACKGROUND: The reported incidence of Clostridoides difficile infection (CDI) has increased in recent years, partly due to broadening adoption of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) replacing enzyme immunoassay (EIA) methods. Our aim was to quantify t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hospital Infection Control: Clostridioides difficile.

Journal Article Clin Colon Rectal Surg · March 2020 Clostridioides difficile remains a leading cause of healthcare-associated infection. Efforts at C. difficile prevention have been hampered by an increasingly complex understanding of transmission patterns and a high degree of heterogeneity among existing s ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Impact of Location of Acquisition of Gram-Positive Bloodstream Infections on Clinical Outcomes Among Patients Admitted to Community Hospitals.

Journal Article Infection and drug resistance · January 2020 PurposeWe investigated the association between location of acquisition (LOA) of gram-positive (GP) bloodstream infections (BSI) in community hospitals and clinical outcomes.MethodsWe performed a multicenter cohort study of adult inpatient ... Full text Cite

Reflex Urine Culture Practices in a Regional Community Hospital Network

Conference Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · 2020 Background: Reflex urine cultures (RUCs) have the potential to reduce unnecessary urine cultures and antibiotic use. However, urinalysis parameters that best predict true infection are unknown. In this study, we surveyed different RUC practices in laborato ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epidemiology of Posttransrectal Prostate Biopsy Bloodstream Infections and Impact of a Screening Program

Conference Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · 2020 Background: Antibiotic prophylaxis choice for transrectal prostate biopsy (TRPB) has been affected by the emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli (FQRE). Prebiopsy FQRE screening and targeted antibiotic prophylaxis may reduce post-TRPB bloo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measuring Empiric Antibiotic Spectrum Patterns Across Space and Time

Conference Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · 2020 Background: Quantitative evaluation of antibiotic spectrum is an important, underutilized metric in measuring antibiotic use (AU) and may assist antimicrobial stewards in identifying targets and strategy for intervention. We evaluated the spectrum of initi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Viral dynamics of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection

Preprint · 2020 Full text Cite

Evaluation of dilute hydrogen peroxide technology for continuous room decontamination of multidrug-resistant organisms.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · December 2019 Full text Link to item Cite

Impacts of silver-coated antimicrobial screen covers on the cell-phone microbiome of resident physicians.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · December 2019 An antimicrobial screen was applied to the cell phones of 26 resident physicians to determine its effects on the phone microbiome and its potential to serve as a selective agent for antibiotic or silver resistance genes. No increase of these genes was obse ... Full text Link to item Cite

Shifting surgical site infection denominators and implications for National Health Safety Network reporting.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2019 Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of FDA black box warning on fluoroquinolone and alternative antibiotic use in southeastern US hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2019 We analyzed antibiotic use data from 29 southeastern US hospitals over a 5-year period to determine changes in antibiotic use after the fluoroquinolone US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory update in 2016. Fluoroquinolone use declined both before ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antimicrobial activity of a continuously active disinfectant against healthcare pathogens.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2019 A novel disinfectant studied using an EPA protocol demonstrated sustained antimicrobial activity (ie, 3-5 log10 reduction) in 5 minutes after 24 hours for Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, Candida auris, carbapenem-resistant Escheri ... Full text Link to item Cite

Serious superficial incisional surgical site infections (SSISSIs): A proposed surveillance definition.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2019 Full text Link to item Cite

Epidemiologic Trends in Clostridioides difficile Infections in a Regional Community Hospital Network.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · October 2, 2019 IMPORTANCE: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) remains a leading cause of health care facility-associated infection. A greater understanding of the regional epidemiologic profile of CDI could inform targeted prevention strategies. OBJECTIVES: To asse ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Feasibility of Core Antimicrobial Stewardship Interventions in Community Hospitals.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · August 2, 2019 IMPORTANCE: The feasibility of core Infectious Diseases Society of America-recommended antimicrobial stewardship interventions in community hospitals is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the feasibility and results of implementing 2 core stewardship interve ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effectiveness of Vancomycin or Beta-Lactam Therapy in Ampicillin-Susceptible Enterococcus spp. Bloodstream Infections.

Journal Article J Pharm Pract · August 2019 BACKGROUND: De-escalation to a beta-lactam improves outcomes for patients with a methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (BSI). Whether a similar strategy is appropriate for enterococcal species is less clear. OBJECTIVE: To dete ... Full text Link to item Cite

Total duration of antimicrobial therapy resulting from inpatient hospitalization.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2019 OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of electronic data capture of postdischarge durations and evaluate total durations of antimicrobial exposure related to inpatient hospital stays. DESIGN: Multicenter, retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Two community h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria on personal devices in hospital intensive care units: Molecular approaches to quantifying and describing changes in the bacterial community of personal mobile devices.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2019 Bacterial community composition and presence of antibiotic resistance genes (mecA, tetK, and vanA) on personal mobile devices (PMDs) of nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) were evaluated. Antibiotic resistance genes on PMDs decreased at the end of the sh ... Full text Link to item Cite

Continuous room decontamination technologies.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · June 2019 The contaminated surface environment in the rooms of hospitalized patients is an important risk factor for the colonization and infection of patients with multidrug-resistant pathogens. Improved terminal cleaning and disinfection have been demonstrated to ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hospital epidemiologists' and infection preventionists' opinions regarding hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia as a potential healthcare-associated infection metric.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2019 OBJECTIVE: To ascertain opinions regarding etiology and preventability of hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia (HOB) and perspectives on HOB as a potential outcome measure reflecting quality of infection prevention and hospital care. DESIGN: Cross-sectio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Point-prevalence study of antimicrobial use in public hospitals in southern Sri Lanka identifies opportunities for improving prescribing practices.

Journal Article Infection control and hospital epidemiology · February 2019 A point-prevalence study of antimicrobial use among inpatients at 5 public hospitals in Sri Lanka revealed that 54.6% were receiving antimicrobials: 43.1% in medical wards, 68.0% in surgical wards, and 97.6% in intensive care wards. Amoxicillin-clavulanate ... Full text Cite

Prevalence, Underlying Causes, and Preventability of Sepsis-Associated Mortality in US Acute Care Hospitals.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · February 1, 2019 IMPORTANCE: Sepsis is present in many hospitalizations that culminate in death. The contribution of sepsis to these deaths, and the extent to which they are preventable, is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence, underlying causes, and preventabili ... Full text Link to item Cite

A prospective study of transmission of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROs) between environmental sites and hospitalized patients-the TransFER study.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2019 OBJECTIVE: Hospital environmental surfaces are frequently contaminated by microorganisms. However, the causal mechanism of bacterial contamination of the environment as a source of transmission is still debated. This prospective study was performed to char ... Full text Link to item Cite

URINARY TRACT INFECTION IS A COMMON REASON FOR POTENTIALLY INAPPROPRIATE ANTIMICROBIAL USE AMONG INPATIENTS IN SRI LANKA

Conference AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE · January 1, 2019 Link to item Cite

Estimating the Per-Application Effectiveness of Chlorhexidine Gluconate and Mupirocin in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Decolonization in Intensive Care Units

Preprint · 2019 Full text Cite

Applying ecological resistance and resilience to dissect bacterial antibiotic responses.

Journal Article Sci Adv · December 2018 An essential property of microbial communities is the ability to survive a disturbance. Survival can be achieved through resistance, the ability to absorb effects of a disturbance without a notable change, or resilience, the ability to recover after being ... Full text Link to item Cite

Compliance With the National SEP-1 Quality Measure and Association With Sepsis Outcomes: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study.

Journal Article Crit Care Med · October 2018 OBJECTIVES: Many septic patients receive care that fails the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' SEP-1 measure, but it is unclear whether this reflects meaningful lapses in care, differences in clinical characteristics, or excessive rigidity of the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antimicrobial activity of a continuous visible light disinfection system.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2018 We evaluated the ability of high-intensity visible violet light with a peak output of 405 nm to kill epidemiologically important pathogens. The high irradiant light significantly reduced both vegetative bacteria and spores at some time points over a 72-hou ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of Algorithm-Based Therapy vs Usual Care on Clinical Success and Serious Adverse Events in Patients with Staphylococcal Bacteremia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal Article JAMA · September 25, 2018 IMPORTANCE: The appropriate duration of antibiotics for staphylococcal bacteremia is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To test whether an algorithm that defines treatment duration for staphylococcal bacteremia vs standard of care provides noninferior efficacy without in ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Enhanced disinfection leads to reduction of microbial contamination and a decrease in patient colonization and infection.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2018 In this prospective study, we monitored 4 epidemiologically important pathogens (EIPs): methicillin-resistane Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Clostridium difficile, and multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter to assess ... Full text Link to item Cite

Performance of statistical process control methods for regional surgical site infection surveillance: a 10-year multicentre pilot study.

Journal Article BMJ Qual Saf · August 2018 BACKGROUND: Traditional strategies for surveillance of surgical site infections (SSI) have multiple limitations, including delayed and incomplete outbreak detection. Statistical process control (SPC) methods address these deficiencies by combining longitud ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effectiveness of targeted enhanced terminal room disinfection on hospital-wide acquisition and infection with multidrug-resistant organisms and Clostridium difficile: a secondary analysis of a multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial with crossover design (BETR Disinfection).

Journal Article Lancet Infect Dis · August 2018 BACKGROUND: The hospital environment is a source of pathogen transmission. The effect of enhanced disinfection strategies on the hospital-wide incidence of infection has not been investigated in a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. We aimed to asses ... Full text Link to item Cite

Variability in determining sepsis time zero and bundle compliance rates for the centers for medicare and medicaid services SEP-1 measure.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2018 We compared sepsis "time zero" and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) SEP-1 pass rates among 3 abstractors in 3 hospitals. Abstractors agreed on time zero in 29 of 80 (36%) cases. Perceived pass rates ranged from 9 of 80 cases (11%) to 19 of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Do Periarticular Joint Infections Present an Increase in Infection Risk?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2018 Full text Link to item Cite

Do Periarticular Joint Injections Present an Increase in Infection Risk? - CORRIGENDUM.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2018 Full text Link to item Cite

Feasibility and Value of Developing a Regional Antibiogram for Community Hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2018 OBJECTIVETo determine the feasibility and value of developing a regional antibiogram for community hospitals.DESIGNMulticenter retrospective analysis of antibiograms.SETTING AND PARTICIPANTSA total of 20 community hospitals in central and eastern North Car ... Full text Link to item Cite

Denominator Matters in Estimating Antimicrobial Use: A Comparison of Days Present and Patient Days.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2018 Patient days and days present were compared to directly measured person time to quantify how choice of different denominator metrics may affect antimicrobial use rates. Overall, days present were approximately one-third higher than patient days. This diffe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hospital-Onset MRSA Bacteremia Rates Are Significantly Correlated With Sociodemographic Factors: A Step Toward Risk Adjustment.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2018 The correlations between census-derived sociodemographic variables and hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (HO-MRSAB) rates were examined at the US state level. On multivariable analysis, only percent African American rema ... Full text Link to item Cite

To Be a CLABSI or Not to Be a CLABSI-That is the Question: The Epidemiology of BSI in a Large ECMO Population.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2018 Full text Link to item Cite

Influence of Reported Penicillin Allergy on Mortality in MSSA Bacteremia.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · March 2018 BACKGROUND: Penicillin allergy frequently impacts antibiotic choice. As beta-lactams are superior to vancomycin in treating methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) bacteremia, we examined the effect of reported penicillin allergy on clinical o ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Implementation Lessons Learned From the Benefits of Enhanced Terminal Room (BETR) Disinfection Study: Process and Perceptions of Enhanced Disinfection with Ultraviolet Disinfection Devices.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2018 OBJECTIVE To summarize and discuss logistic and administrative challenges we encountered during the Benefits of Enhanced Terminal Room (BETR) Disinfection Study and lessons learned that are pertinent to future utilization of ultraviolet (UV) disinfection d ... Full text Link to item Cite

Basics of Surgical Site Infection: Surveillance and Prevention

Chapter · January 1, 2018 Full text Cite

Dissecting bacterial resistance and resilience in antibiotic responses

Preprint · 2018 Full text Cite

Impact of automatic infectious diseases consultation on the management of fungemia at a large academic medical center.

Journal Article Am J Health Syst Pharm · December 1, 2017 PURPOSE: The impact of automatic infectious diseases (ID) consultation for inpatients with fungemia at a large academic medical center was studied. METHODS: In this single-center, retrospective study, the time to appropriate antifungal therapy before and a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Self-monitoring by Environmental Services May Not Accurately Measure Thoroughness of Hospital Room Cleaning.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2017 Full text Link to item Cite

The Antimicrobial Scrub Contamination and Transmission (ASCOT) Trial: A Three-Arm, Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial With Crossover Design to Determine the Efficacy of Antimicrobial-Impregnated Scrubs in Preventing Healthcare Provider Contamination.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2017 OBJECTIVE To determine whether antimicrobial-impregnated textiles decrease the acquisition of pathogens by healthcare provider (HCP) clothing. DESIGN We completed a 3-arm randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of 2 types of antimicrobial-impregna ... Full text Link to item Cite

Electronically Available Comorbidities Should Be Used in Surgical Site Infection Risk Adjustment.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · September 1, 2017 BACKGROUND: Healthcare-associated infections such as surgical site infections (SSIs) are used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as pay-for-performance metrics. Risk adjustment allows a fairer comparison of SSI rates across hospitals. ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Effect of Adding Comorbidities to Current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Central-Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection Risk-Adjustment Methodology.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2017 BACKGROUND Risk adjustment is needed to fairly compare central-line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates between hospitals. Until 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) methodology adjusted CLABSI rates only by type of intens ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genomic Analysis of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli from North Carolina Community Hospitals: Ongoing Circulation of CTX-M-Producing ST131-H30Rx and ST131-H30R1 Strains.

Journal Article Antimicrob Agents Chemother · August 2017 Escherichia coli sequence type 131 (ST131) predominates globally among multidrug-resistant (MDR) E. coli strains. We used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to investigate 63 MDR E. coli isolates from 7 North Carolina community hospitals (2010 to 2015). Of thes ... Full text Link to item Cite

Using Clinical Scenarios to Understand Preventability of Clostridium difficile Infections by Inpatient Antibiotic Stewardship Programs.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2017 Full text Link to item Cite

Is There a Correlation Between Infection Control Performance and Other Hospital Quality Measures?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2017 Quality measures are increasingly reported by hospitals to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), yet there may be tradeoffs in performance between infection control (IC) and other quality measures. Hospitals that performed best on IC measur ... Full text Link to item Cite

Two-Phase Hospital-Associated Outbreak of Mycobacterium abscessus: Investigation and Mitigation.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · April 1, 2017 BACKGROUND: Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) commonly colonize municipal water supplies and cause healthcare-associated outbreaks. We investigated a biphasic outbreak of Mycobacterium abscessus at a tertiary care hospital. METHODS: Case patients had recen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Which Comorbid Conditions Should We Be Analyzing as Risk Factors for Healthcare-Associated Infections?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2017 OBJECTIVE To determine which comorbid conditions are considered causally related to central-line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and surgical-site infection (SSI) based on expert consensus. DESIGN Using the Delphi method, we administered an itera ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Role of Stewardship in Addressing Antibacterial Resistance: Stewardship and Infection Control Committee of the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · March 15, 2017 Antibacterial resistance is increasing globally and has been recognized as a major public health threat. Antibacterial stewardship is the coordinated effort to improve the appropriate use of antibiotics with the aim to decrease selective pressure for multi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Enhanced terminal room disinfection and acquisition and infection caused by multidrug-resistant organisms and Clostridium difficile (the Benefits of Enhanced Terminal Room Disinfection study): a cluster-randomised, multicentre, crossover study.

Journal Article Lancet · February 25, 2017 BACKGROUND: Patients admitted to hospital can acquire multidrug-resistant organisms and Clostridium difficile from inadequately disinfected environmental surfaces. We determined the effect of three enhanced strategies for terminal room disinfection (disinf ... Full text Link to item Cite

Interrater Reliability of Surveillance for Ventilator-Associated Events and Pneumonia.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2017 OBJECTIVE To compare interrater reliabilities for ventilator-associated event (VAE) surveillance, traditional ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) surveillance, and clinical diagnosis of VAP by intensivists. DESIGN A retrospective study nested within a pr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Expert Consensus on Metrics to Assess the Impact of Patient-Level Antimicrobial Stewardship Interventions in Acute-Care Settings.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · February 1, 2017 Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) positively impact patient care, but metrics to assess ASP impact are poorly defined. We used a modified Delphi approach to select relevant metrics for assessing patient-level interventions in acute-care settings fo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical Outcomes and Healthcare Utilization Related to Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Infections in Community Hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2017 OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of multidrug-resistant gram-negative rod (MDR-GNR) infections on mortality and healthcare resource utilization in community hospitals. DESIGN Two matched case-control analyses. SETTING Six community hospitals participating ... Full text Link to item Cite

Status of the Prevention of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in International Settings: A Survey of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Research Network.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2017 OBJECTIVE To examine self-reported practices and policies to reduce infection and transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) in healthcare settings outside the United States. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS International members of th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identification of novel risk factors for community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection using spatial statistics and geographic information system analyses.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2017 BACKGROUND: The rate of community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection (CA-CDI) is increasing. While receipt of antibiotics remains an important risk factor for CDI, studies related to acquisition of C. difficile outside of hospitals are lacking. As a ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Effect of meteorological factors and geographic location on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci colonization in the US.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2017 BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effect of meteorological conditions and geographical location on bacterial colonization rates particularly of antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria. We aimed to evaluate the effect of season, meteorological facto ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical Site Infections: An Update.

Journal Article Infect Dis Clin North Am · December 2016 Surgical site infections (SSIs) lead to adverse patient outcomes, including prolonged hospitalization and death. Wound contamination occurs with each incision, but proven strategies exist to decrease the risk of SSI. In particular, improved adherence to ev ... Full text Link to item Cite

Research Methods in Healthcare Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship-Mathematical Modeling.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2016 Mathematical modeling is a valuable methodology used to study healthcare epidemiology and antimicrobial stewardship, particularly when more traditional study approaches are infeasible, unethical, costly, or time consuming. We focus on 2 of the most common ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessment of Self-Contamination During Removal of Personal Protective Equipment for Ebola Patient Care.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2016 OBJECTIVE Ebola virus disease (EVD) places healthcare personnel (HCP) at high risk for infection during patient care, and personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical. Protocols for EVD PPE doffing have not been validated for prevention of viral self-co ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Multicenter Pragmatic Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Chlorhexidine Gluconate Bathing in Community Hospital Intensive Care Units.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2016 OBJECTIVE To determine whether daily chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing of intensive care unit (ICU) patients leads to a decrease in hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), particularly infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA ... Full text Link to item Cite

Research Methods in Healthcare Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2016 Research in Healthcare Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship (HE&AS) is rapidly expanding with the involvement of researchers from varied countries and backgrounds. Researchers must use scientific methods that will provide the strongest evidence to ad ... Full text Link to item Cite

Research Methods in Healthcare Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship: Randomized Controlled Trials.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2016 Randomized controlled trials (RCT) produce the strongest level of clinical evidence when comparing interventions. RCTs are technically difficult, costly, and require specific considerations including the use of patient- and cluster-level randomization and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effectiveness of ultraviolet devices and hydrogen peroxide systems for terminal room decontamination: Focus on clinical trials.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · May 2, 2016 Over the last decade, substantial scientific evidence has accumulated that indicates contamination of environmental surfaces in hospital rooms plays an important role in the transmission of key health care-associated pathogens (eg, methicillin-resistant St ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epidemiology of Surgical Site Infection in a Community Hospital Network.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2016 OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of complex surgical site infection (SSI) following commonly performed surgical procedures in community hospitals and to characterize trends of SSI prevalence rates over time for MRSA and other common pathogens METHOD ... Full text Link to item Cite

Increasing Incidence of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Escherichia coli in Community Hospitals throughout the Southeastern United States.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2016 OBJECTIVE To describe the epidemiology of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL-KP) infections DESIGN Retrospective cohort SETTING Inpatient care at community hospitals PATIENTS All patien ... Full text Link to item Cite

An Automated Surveillance Strategy to Identify Infectious Complications After Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Procedures.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · December 2015 Background. The optimum approach for infectious complication surveillance for cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures is unclear. We created an automated surveillance tool for infectious complications after CIED procedures. Methods. Adult ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Short Operative Duration and Surgical Site Infection Risk in Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Procedures.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · December 2015 OBJECTIVE: To determine the association (1) between shorter operative duration and surgical site infection (SSI) and (2) between surgeon median operative duration and SSI risk among first-time hip and knee arthroplasties. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study ... Full text Link to item Cite

Seasonal Variation of Common Surgical Site Infections: Does Season Matter?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2015 OBJECTIVE: To evaluate seasonal variation in the rate of surgical site infections (SSI) following commonly performed surgical procedures. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: We analyzed 6 years (January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2012) of data ... Full text Link to item Cite

Challenges in Preparation of Cumulative Antibiogram Reports for Community Hospitals.

Journal Article J Clin Microbiol · September 2015 Knowledge of local antimicrobial resistance is critical for management of infectious diseases. Community hospitals' compliance with Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidance for creation of cumulative antibiograms is uncertain. This descr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Touchless Technologies for Decontamination in the Hospital: a Review of Hydrogen Peroxide and UV Devices.

Journal Article Curr Infect Dis Rep · September 2015 Reduction of microbial contamination of the hospital environment is a challenge, yet has potential impacts on infection prevention efforts. Fumigation and UV light devices for environmental cleaning have expanded into the health care setting with the goal ... Full text Link to item Cite

Postoperative infection in spine surgery: does the month matter?

Journal Article J Neurosurg Spine · July 2015 OBJECT: The relationship between time of year and surgical site infection (SSI) following neurosurgical procedures is poorly understood. Authors of previous reports have demonstrated that rates of SSI following neurosurgical procedures performed during the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lessons learned from hospital Ebola preparation.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2015 BACKGROUND: Hospital Ebola preparation is underway in the United States and other countries; however, the best approach and resources involved are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine costs and challenges associated with hospital Ebola preparation by means of a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Point-of-prescription interventions to improve antimicrobial stewardship.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · April 15, 2015 Antimicrobial stewardship is pivotal to improving patient outcomes, reducing adverse events, decreasing healthcare costs, and preventing further emergence of antimicrobial resistance. In an era in which antimicrobial resistance is increasing, judicious ant ... Full text Link to item Cite

Delay in diagnosis of invasive surgical site infections following knee arthroplasty versus hip arthroplasty.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · April 1, 2015 BACKGROUND: The timing of diagnosis of invasive surgical site infection (SSI) following joint replacement surgery is an important criterion used to determine subsequent medical and surgical management. METHODS: We compared time to diagnosis of invasive SSI ... Full text Link to item Cite

The potential impact of excluding funguria from the surveillance definition of catheter-associated urinary tract infection.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2015 Funguria rarely represents true infection in the urinary tract. Excluding yeast from the catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) surveillance definition reduced CAUTI rates by nearly 25% in community hospitals and at an academic, tertiary-care ... Full text Link to item Cite

Guidance for infection prevention and healthcare epidemiology programs: healthcare epidemiologist skills and competencies.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2015 Full text Link to item Cite

Bacterial temporal dynamics enable optimal design of antibiotic treatment.

Journal Article PLoS Comput Biol · April 2015 There is a critical need to better use existing antibiotics due to the urgent threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria coupled with the reduced effort in developing new antibiotics. β-lactam antibiotics represent one of the most commonly used classes of ant ... Full text Link to item Cite

A comparison between National Healthcare Safety Network laboratory-identified event reporting versus traditional surveillance for Clostridium difficile infection.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2015 OBJECTIVE Hospitals in the National Healthcare Safety Network began reporting laboratory-identified (LabID) Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) events in January 2013. Our study quantified the differences between the LabID and traditional surveillance me ... Full text Link to item Cite

The preventability of ventilator-associated events. The CDC Prevention Epicenters Wake Up and Breathe Collaborative.

Journal Article Am J Respir Crit Care Med · February 1, 2015 RATIONALE: The CDC introduced ventilator-associated event (VAE) definitions in January 2013. Little is known about VAE prevention. We hypothesized that daily, coordinated spontaneous awakening trials (SATs) and spontaneous breathing trials (SBTs) might pre ... Full text Link to item Cite

Staphylococcus aureus infections following knee and hip prosthesis insertion procedures.

Journal Article Antimicrob Resist Infect Control · 2015 BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus is the most common and most important pathogen following knee and hip arthroplasty procedures. Understanding the epidemiology of invasive S. aureus infections is important to quantify this serious complication. METHODS: Th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia in community hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · December 2014 OBJECTIVE: Describe the epidemiology of healthcare-related (ie, healthcare-associated and hospital-acquired) pneumonia due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among hospitalized patients in community hospitals. DESIGN: Retrospective cohor ... Full text Link to item Cite

Whole Genome Sequencing of a Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Pseudo-Outbreak in a Professional Football Team.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · December 2014 Two American football players on the same team were diagnosed with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin and soft tissue infections on the same day. Our investigation, including whole genome sequencing, confirmed that players did not tran ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Updated compendium offers strategies to prevent health care-associated infections.

Journal Article Bull Am Coll Surg · December 2014 Link to item Cite

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection surveillance: National Healthcare Safety Network's laboratory-identified event reporting versus traditional laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection surveillance.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2014 Hospitals must report cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (BSI) using a new laboratory-identified (LabID) event reporting module. BSI rates obtained using LabID differ from rates of BSI obtained from traditional surve ... Full text Link to item Cite

Introduction to "A compendium of strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals: 2014 updates".

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2014 Since the publication of "A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals" in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rising rates of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae in community hospitals: a mixed-methods review of epidemiology and microbiology practices in a network of community hospitals in the southeastern United States.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2014 OBJECTIVE: Describe the epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and examine the effect of lower carbapenem breakpoints on CRE detection. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort. SETTING: Inpatient care at community hospitals. PATIENTS: All patie ... Full text Link to item Cite

A compendium of strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals: 2014 updates.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2014 Since the publication of "A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals" in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2014 Updates.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · August 2014 Since the publication of "A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals" in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infections: estimating all-cause mortality and length of stay.

Journal Article Epidemiology · July 2014 BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile is a health care-associated infection of increasing importance. The purpose of this study was to estimate the time until death from any cause and time until release among patients with C. difficile, comparing the burden of ... Full text Link to item Cite

A comparison of environmental contamination by patients infected or colonized with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or vancomycin-resistant enterococci: a multicenter study.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2014 A total of 1,023 environmental surfaces were sampled from 45 rooms with patients infected or colonized with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) before terminal room cleaning. Colonized patients had h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Strategies to prevent surgical site infections in acute care hospitals: 2014 update.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2014 Previously published guidelines are available that provide comprehensive recommendations for detecting and preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The intent of this document is to highlight practical recommendations in a concise format designe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surveying the surveillance: surgical site infections excluded by the January 2013 updated surveillance definitions.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2014 The updated 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Healthcare Safety Network definitions for surgical site infections (SSIs) reduced the duration of prolonged surveillance from 1 year to 90 days and defined which procedure types require p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Introduction to "A Compendium of Strategies To Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2014 updates".

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2014 Since the publication of "A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals" in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs ... Full text Link to item Cite

The evolving landscape of healthcare-associated infections: recent advances in prevention and a road map for research.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2014 This white paper identifies knowledge gaps and new challenges in healthcare epidemiology research, assesses the progress made toward addressing research priorities, provides the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Research Committee's rec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis: is the glass half empty or more than 99% full?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2014 Full text Link to item Cite

On contact precautions: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2014 Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of nosocomial bloodstream infections on mortality, length of stay, and hospital costs in older adults.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · February 2014 OBJECTIVES: To quantify the effect of nosocomial bloodstream infection (BSI) on older adults, including mortality, length of stay (LOS), and costs attributed to BSI. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Eight acute care hospitals (7 community hospi ... Full text Link to item Cite

The growing importance of non-device-associated healthcare-associated infections: a relative proportion and incidence study at an academic medical center, 2008-2012.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2014 Full text Link to item Cite

Prevention of surgical site infection: beyond SCIP.

Journal Article AORN J · February 2014 Full text Link to item Cite

Widespread dissemination of CTX-M-15 genotype extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing enterobacteriaceae among patients presenting to community hospitals in the southeastern United States.

Journal Article Antimicrob Agents Chemother · 2014 Extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing organisms are increasingly prevalent. We determined the characteristics of 66 consecutive ESBL-producing isolates from six community hospitals in North Carolina and Virginia from 2010 to 2012. Fifty-three (80% ... Full text Link to item Cite

A mathematical model to evaluate the routine use of fecal microbiota transplantation to prevent incident and recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2014 OBJECTIVE: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been suggested as a new treatment to manage Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). With use of a mathematical model of C. difficile within an intensive care unit (ICU), we examined the potential impact ... Full text Link to item Cite

Bloodstream infections in community hospitals in the 21st century: a multicenter cohort study.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2014 BACKGROUND: While the majority of healthcare in the US is provided in community hospitals, the epidemiology and treatment of bloodstream infections in this setting is unknown. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We undertook this multicenter, retrospective cohort study ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Clinical Characteristics and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Hospitalized Patients with Community Acquired Urinary Tract Infections at a Regional Hospital in Taiwan.

Journal Article Healthc Infect · December 16, 2013 BACKGROUND: Community-acquired urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common bacterial infection encountered at hospitals. Effective empirical antibiotic therapy relies on updated epidemiological data. AIM: We described the epidemiology of patients with ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessing the relative burden of hospital-acquired infections in a network of community hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2013 Full text Link to item Cite

Universal glove and gown use and acquisition of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the ICU: a randomized trial.

Journal Article JAMA · October 16, 2013 IMPORTANCE: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are associated with increased patient morbidity and mortality. It is unknown whether wearing gloves and gowns for all patient contact in the intensive care unit (ICU) decreases acquisition of antibiotic-resistant b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of change to molecular testing for Clostridium difficile infection on healthcare facility-associated incidence rates.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2013 BACKGROUND: Change from nonmolecular to molecular testing techniques is thought to contribute to the increasing trend in incidence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI); however the degree of effect attributed to this versus other time-related epidemiol ... Full text Link to item Cite

Statewide costs of health care-associated infections: estimates for acute care hospitals in North Carolina.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · September 2013 BACKGROUND: State-specific, health care-associated infection (HAI) cost estimates have not been calculated to guide Department of Public Health efforts and investments. METHODS: We completed a cost identification study by conducting a survey of 117 acute c ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of the surface environment in healthcare-associated infections.

Journal Article Curr Opin Infect Dis · August 2013 PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article reviews the evidence demonstrating the importance of contamination of hospital surfaces in the transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens and interventions scientifically demonstrated to reduce the levels of microbial c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of non-intensive care unit (ICU) versus ICU rates of catheter-associated urinary tract infection in community hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2013 We describe and compare the epidemiology of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) occurring in non-intensive care unit (ICU) versus ICU wards in a network of community hospitals over a 2-year period. Overall, 72% of cases of CAUTI occurred in ... Full text Link to item Cite

The epidemiology of ventilator-associated pneumonia in a network of community hospitals: a prospective multicenter study.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2013 OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in community hospitals. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective study in 31 community hospitals from 2007 to 2011. METHODS: VAP surveillance was performed by infection preventionists ... Full text Link to item Cite

Enterococcus species and the central line-associated bloodstream infection surveillance definition: evaluating the importance of blood culture contamination.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2013 Full text Link to item Cite

Decontamination of targeted pathogens from patient rooms using an automated ultraviolet-C-emitting device.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2013 OBJECTIVE. To determine the effectiveness of an automated ultraviolet-C (UV-C) emitter against vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Clostridium difficile, and Acinetobacter spp. in patient rooms. DESIGN. Prospective cohort study. SETTING. Two tertiary c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Role of the environment in the transmission of Clostridium difficile in health care facilities.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · May 2013 Recent data demonstrate that the contaminated hospital surface environment plays a key role in the transmission of Clostridium difficile. Enhanced environmental cleaning of rooms housing Clostridium difficile-infected patients is warranted, and, if additio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Utility of a clinical risk factor scoring model in predicting infection with extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing enterobacteriaceae on hospital admission.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2013 OBJECTIVE: To validate the utility of a previously published scoring model (Italian) to identify patients infected with community-onset extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-EKP) and develop a new model (Duke) based on local epid ... Full text Link to item Cite

Central line-associated infections as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital-acquired condition versus standard infection control surveillance: why hospital compare seems conflicted.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2013 OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the concordance of case-finding methods for central line-associated infection as defined by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital-acquired condition (HAC) compared with traditional infection control (IC) methods. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Observing and improving hand hygiene compliance: implementation and refinement of an electronic-assisted direct-observer hand hygiene audit program.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · February 2013 We implemented a direct-observer hand hygiene audit program that used trained observers, wireless data entry devices, and an intranet portal. We improved the reliability and utility of the data by standardizing audit processes, regularly retraining auditor ... Full text Link to item Cite

Treatment of Clostridium difficile infection: recent trial results.

Journal Article Clin Investig (Lond) · 2013 Clostridium difficile is a major cause of infection worldwide and is associated with increasing morbidity and mortality in vulnerable patient populations. Metronidazole and oral vancomycin are the currently recommended therapies for the treatment of C. dif ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Epidemiology Of Healthcare-Associated (hca) Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (mrsa) Pneumonia In A Network Of Community Hospitals: A Prospective, Multicenter Study

Journal Article AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE · January 1, 2013 Link to item Cite

Increasing rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in academic hospitals: a result of active surveillance?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2013 Full text Link to item Cite

Central line-associated bloodstream infections in adult hematology patients with febrile neutropenia: an evaluation of surveillance definitions using differential time to blood culture positivity.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2013 We used differential time to positivity between central and peripheral blood cultures to evaluate the positive predictive value (PPV) of the National Healthcare Safety Network central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) surveillance definition a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Delays in appropriate antibiotic therapy for gram-negative bloodstream infections: a multicenter, community hospital study.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2013 BACKGROUND: Gram-negative bacterial bloodstream infection (BSI) is a serious condition with estimated 30% mortality. Clinical outcomes for patients with severe infections improve when antibiotics are appropriately chosen and given early. The objective of t ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Antimicrobial stewardship as part of the infection prevention effort.

Journal Article Curr Infect Dis Rep · December 2012 Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) optimize antimicrobial use to decrease the incidence of infection with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) and the emergence of drug resistance, to improve patient outcomes and safety, and to decrease hospital cos ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical site infection prophylaxis strategies for cardiothoracic surgery: a decision-analytic model.

Journal Article Scand J Infect Dis · December 2012 BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a common cause of invasive surgical site infection (SSI) in the USA. Antimicrobial prophylaxis for SSI typically includes a cephalosporin. Vancomycin is used to provide MRSA coverage, but th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Does nonpayment for hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections lead to overtesting and increased antimicrobial prescribing?

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · October 2012 BACKGROUND: On 1 October 2008, in an effort to stimulate efforts to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a policy of not reimbursing hospitals for hospital-acquired CAUT ... Full text Link to item Cite

Casablanca redux: we are shocked that public reporting of rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections are inaccurate.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2012 Full text Link to item Cite

Prosthetic joint infection: Case study and review of diagnosis and management

Journal Article Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice · September 1, 2012 Surgical site infections are an infrequent but devastating complication of surgeries involving placement of prosthetic joints. Management of prosthetic joint infections can be prolonged and complicated, requiring close collaboration between infectious dise ... Full text Cite

"What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve over": epidemiology and risk factors for bloodstream infections following cardiac catheterization.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2012 No standard definition exists for surveillance and characterization of the epidemiology of bloodstream infections (BSIs) after cardiac catheterization (CC) procedures. We proposed a novel case definition and determined the epidemiology and risk factors of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Conclusion of Avery et al--validation of findings but concern about rationale.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2012 Full text Link to item Cite

A 9-Year retrospective review of antibiotic cycling in a surgical intensive care unit.

Journal Article J Surg Res · August 2012 BACKGROUND: Six years after initiating a monthly antibiotic cycling protocol in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU), we retrospectively reviewed antibiogram-derived sensitivities of predominant gram-negative pathogens before and after antibiotic cyclin ... Full text Link to item Cite

Survival of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. for an extended period of transport.

Journal Article J Clin Microbiol · July 2012 This study determined the survivability of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) for extended periods of time and temperatures using a standard swab for assessment. Our study showed that transportatio ... Full text Link to item Cite

When should contact precautions and active surveillance be used to manage patients with multidrug-resistant enterobacteriaceae?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2012 Full text Link to item Cite

Efficacy and safety of fidaxomicin compared with oral vancomycin for the treatment of adults with Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea: data from the OPT-80-003 and OPT-80-004 studies.

Journal Article Future Microbiol · June 2012 Clostridium difficile is emerging as one of the most important and devastating pathogens affecting hospitalized populations around the world. The incidence of C. difficile infection is increasing and disease severity is worsening. Thus, an effective altern ... Full text Link to item Cite

Ability of an antibiogram to predict Pseudomonas aeruginosa susceptibility to targeted antimicrobials based on hospital day of isolation.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · June 2012 OBJECTIVE: To determine the utility of an antibiogram in predicting the susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to targeted antimicrobial agents based on the day of hospitalization the specimen was collected. DESIGN: Single-center retrospective c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Constructing unit-specific empiric treatment guidelines for catheter-related and primary bacteremia by determining the likelihood of inadequate therapy.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2012 This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using likelihood of inadequate therapy (LIT), a parameter calculated by using pathogen frequency and in vitro susceptibility for determination of appropriate empiric antibiotic therapy for primary bloodstrea ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of depth of infection and postdischarge surveillance on rate of surgical-site infections in a network of community hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · March 2012 OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of surgical-site infections (SSIs) in community hospitals and to explore the impact of depth of SSI, healthcare location at the time of diagnosis, and variations in surveillance practices on the overall rate of SSI. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Overview of the epidemiology and the threat of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPC) resistance.

Journal Article Infect Drug Resist · 2012 Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) confer resistance to nearly all β-lactams. This broad-spectrum drug resistance mechanism has rapidly spread in the United States and is reportedly increasing elsewhere in the world. Thus, the emergence of KPC res ... Full text Link to item Cite

Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Skin and Soft Tissue Infections: Management and Prevention.

Journal Article Curr Infect Dis Rep · October 2011 Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) was a rare phenomenon until the past decade; now CA-MRSA is endemic in many communities and is the most common cause of skin and soft tissue infections presenting to emergency rooms. ... Full text Link to item Cite

"But my patients are different!": risk adjustment in 2012 and beyond.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2011 Full text Link to item Cite

Fundoplication after lung transplantation prevents the allograft dysfunction associated with reflux.

Journal Article Ann Thorac Surg · August 2011 BACKGROUND: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in lung recipients is associated with decreased survival and attenuated allograft function. This study evaluates fundoplication in preventing GERD-related allograft dysfunction. METHODS: Prospectively coll ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multidrug-resistant chronic osteomyelitis complicating war injury in Iraqi civilians.

Journal Article J Trauma · July 2011 BACKGROUND: War-related orthopedic injury is frequently complicated by environmental contamination and delays in management, placing victims at increased risk for long-term infectious complications. We describe, among Iraqi civilians with war-related chron ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical site infections following bariatric surgery in community hospitals: a weighty concern?

Journal Article Obes Surg · July 2011 BACKGROUND: Although obesity is a well-known risk factor for surgical site infection (SSI), specific risk factors for SSI among obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery (BS) have not been well-defined. METHODS: We performed a prospective cohort study on ... Full text Link to item Cite

Blood culture contamination with Enterococci and skin organisms: implications for surveillance definitions of primary bloodstream infections.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · June 2011 Enterococci are a common cause of bacteremia but are also common contaminants. In our institution, approximately 17% of positive blood cultures with enterococci are mixed with skin organisms. Such isolates are probable contaminants. The specificity of the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Predictors of nosocomial bloodstream infections in older adults.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · April 2011 OBJECTIVES: To identify predictors and construct a prediction model for nosocomial bloodstream infection (BSI) in older adults. DESIGN: Retrospective case-control study. SETTING: Hospitals belonging to the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network. PARTICIPA ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of the burdens of hospital-onset, healthcare facility-associated Clostridium difficile Infection and of healthcare-associated infection due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in community hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2011 Featured Publication We sought to determine the burden of nosocomial Clostridium difficile infection in comparison to other healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in community hospitals participating in an infection control network. Our data suggest that C. difficile has repl ... Full text Link to item Cite

The network approach for prevention of healthcare-associated infections: long-term effect of participation in the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2011 Featured Publication OBJECTIVE: To describe the rates of several key outcomes and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) among hospitals that participated in the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON). DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective, observational cohort study of pa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cluster of oseltamivir-resistant 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus infections on a hospital ward among immunocompromised patients--North Carolina, 2009.

Journal Article J Infect Dis · March 15, 2011 BACKGROUND: Oseltamivir resistance among 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) viruses (pH1N1) is rare. We investigated a cluster of oseltamivir-resistant pH1N1 infections in a hospital ward. METHODS: We reviewed patient records and infection control measures a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical site infections.

Journal Article Infect Dis Clin North Am · March 2011 Surgical site infections (SSIs) lead to adverse patient outcomes, including prolonged hospitalization and death. Wound contamination occurs with each incision, but proven strategies exist to decrease the risk of SSIs. In particular, improved adherence to e ... Full text Link to item Cite

An Infection Control Program for a 2009 influenza A H1N1 outbreak in a university-based summer camp.

Journal Article J Am Coll Health · 2011 OBJECTIVES: Describe two 2009-H1N1 influenza outbreaks in university-based summer camps and the implementation of an infection control program. PARTICIPANTS: 7,906 campers across 73 residential camps from May 21-August 2, 2009. METHODS: Influenza-like-illn ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measuring the effect of inappropriate initial antibiotic therapy on outcomes of patients with Gram-negative sepsis: An imprecise science.

Journal Article Crit Care Med · January 2011 Full text Link to item Cite

Current definitions of central line-associated bloodstream infection: is the emperor wearing clothes?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · December 2010 Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Poor functional status is an independent predictor of surgical site infections due to methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in older adults

Journal Article Journal of Urology · October 1, 2010 Full text Cite

Inside-out: the changing epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 2010 Full text Link to item Cite

Reply to Fe Talento et al

Journal Article Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology · September 2010 Full text Open Access Cite

Variation in the type and frequency of postoperative invasive Staphylococcus aureus infections according to type of surgical procedure.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · July 2010 OBJECTIVE: To determine the epidemiological characteristics of postoperative invasive Staphylococcus aureus infection following 4 types of major surgical procedures.design. Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Eleven hospitals (9 community hospitals and 2 ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Case-control study to identify factors associated with mortality among patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia.

Journal Article Clin Microbiol Infect · June 2010 Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia is associated with increased mortality. Delay in appropriate antimicrobial therapy (DAAT) is an important risk factor for death, although confounding between carriage of MRSA and DAAT has not b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prevention of surgical-site infections.

Journal Article N Engl J Med · April 22, 2010 Full text Link to item Cite

Hand hygiene noncompliance and the cost of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2010 BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene noncompliance is a major cause of nosocomial infection. Nosocomial infection cost data exist, but the effect of hand hygiene noncompliance is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To estimate methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-relate ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Poor functional status is an independent predictor of surgical site infections due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in older adults.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · March 2010 BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become a common surgical site infection (SSI) pathogen, particularly in older adults. Risk factors for MRSA SSI in elderly patients have not been described. METHODS: A nested case-control s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Recent changes in the NHSN definition for UTI: for better AND worse.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · February 2010 Full text Link to item Cite

SSI caused by MRSA pushes bill to $60,000

Journal Article Hospital Infection Control and Prevention · February 1, 2010 Cite

Validating a 3-point prediction rule for surgical site infection after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · January 2010 BACKGROUND: Surgical site infection (SSI) after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is an increasing healthcare problem. Investigators from Australia proposed a new, 3-point scale that assesses SSI risk on the basis of diagnosis of diabetes mellitu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical and financial outcomes due to methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus surgical site infection: a multi-center matched outcomes study.

Journal Article PLoS One · December 15, 2009 BACKGROUND: The clinical and financial outcomes of SSIs directly attributable to MRSA and methicillin-resistance are largely uncharacterized. Previously published data have provided conflicting conclusions. METHODOLOGY: We conducted a multi-center matched ... Full text Link to item Cite

Controlling antimicrobial resistance in the hospital.

Journal Article Infect Dis Clin North Am · December 2009 Most evidence-based methods to control the spread of antimicrobial resistance have been developed and applied to the hospital setting. Strategies to control the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals can be categorized as either infe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical-Site Infections and Surgical Prophylaxis

Journal Article · November 18, 2009 Full text Cite

Empirical antimicrobial therapy for bloodstream infection due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: no better than a coin toss.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2009 BACKGROUND: Despite the high prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in the hospital, the proportion of patients with MRSA bacteremia who receive appropriate empirical therapy remains suboptimal. OBJECTIVE: To investigate ... Full text Link to item Cite

Seasonal peaks in Escherichia coli infections: possible explanations and implications.

Journal Article Clin Microbiol Infect · October 2009 Escherichia coli is a common cause of infections in all populations and countries of the world, causing an enormous burden of disease. In this issue of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, Al-Hasan et al. describe seasonal peaks in the incidence of E. coli ... Full text Link to item Cite

Patient-days: a better measure of incidence of occupational bloodborne exposures.

Journal Article Am J Infect Control · September 2009 BACKGROUND: There is currently no accepted standard denominator to calculate and to report the incidence of occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens (OEBBPs) in health care. METHODS: We performed a multicenter study of OEBBP injuries reported from 31 ... Full text Link to item Cite

Emerging evidence for seasonality of gram-negative bacterial infections.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · August 2009 Full text Link to item Cite

Emergence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in community hospitals throughout North Carolina: a harbinger of a wider problem in the United States?

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · July 15, 2009 Featured Publication Community-onset urinary tract infections due to extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli have become increasingly common worldwide but have been considered to be uncommon infections in the United States. We report the emergence and subse ... Full text Link to item Cite

Law of unintended consequences and Medicare's new reimbursement rules

Journal Article Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice · July 1, 2009 Full text Cite

Risk factors for gram-negative bacterial surgical site infection: do allergies to antibiotics increase risk?

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2009 OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between inadequate antimicrobial prophylaxis and development of gram-negative bacterial (GNB) surgical site infection (SSI). DESIGN: Retrospective case-control study. SETTING: A 369-bed acute care community hospital ... Full text Link to item Cite

Staphylococcal surgical site infections.

Journal Article Infect Dis Clin North Am · March 2009 Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of surgical site infections (SSI) in the United States. In particular, SSI caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has emerged as a devastating complication, leading to increased mortality rat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Gram-negative bacteremia upon hospital admission: when should Pseudomonas aeruginosa be suspected?

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · March 1, 2009 BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an uncommon cause of community-acquired bacteremia among patients without severe immunodeficiency. Because tension exists between the need to limit unnecessary use of anti-pseudomonal agents and the need to avoid a del ... Full text Link to item Cite

Predictors for 90-day Mortality after Nosocomial Blood Stream Infection (BSI) in the Elderly

Journal Article JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY · March 1, 2009 Link to item Cite

The effect of surgical site infection on older operative patients.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · January 2009 OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of surgical site infection (SSI) on mortality, duration of hospitalization, and hospital cost in older operative patients. DESIGN: Retrospective matched-outcomes study. SETTING: Eight hospitals, including Duke University ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical and financial outcomes due to methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus surgical site infection: A multi-center matched outcomes study

Journal Article PLoS ONE · 2009 Background: The clinical and financial outcomes of SSIs directly attributable to MRSA and methicillin-resistance are largely uncharacterized. Previously published data have provided conflicting conclusions. Methodology: We conducted a multi-center matched ... Full text Cite

Whither infection control in community hospitals? Musings about the near future.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · November 2008 Full text Link to item Cite

A compendium of strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · October 2008 Preventable healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) occur in US hospitals. Preventing these infections is a national priority, with initiatives led by healthcare organizations, professional associations, government and accrediting agencies, legislators, re ... Full text Link to item Cite