Staff and visitors will be required to mask up at Santa Rosa (Calif.) Medical Center amid a COVID-19 outbreak that has infected more than a dozen hospital workers and patients, The San Francisco Chronicle reported April 20.
Category: Infection Control
AACN: Hand hygiene is more than hand washing
Hygiene practices have come a long way since the CDC first published national hygiene guidelines in the 1980s. With so much to keep track of, a nurse leader summarized some of the latest practice recommendations and strategies to increase hand hygiene …
It's time to end universal mask mandates in healthcare, infectious disease experts say
Wearing masks at grocery stores, on airplanes, subways and buses was the norm during the height of the pandemic. Now, most mask mandates only remain at hospitals and in healthcare settings, but experts say it is time to walk back those policies.
How CDC, AMA plan to manage re-emerging pathogens
Like many things in life, diseases and pathogens are not linear. What was once under control may resurface or spike due to evolving global conditions — which is something experts from the CDC and American Medical Association are continuously preparing …
Half of healthcare workers with COVID-19 may still show up to care for patients: study
About 50 percent of healthcare workers with symptomatic COVID-19 in a new study showed up for work, indicating concern over high workload burden for coworkers and personal responsibility.
Nevada VA system does away with presurgery COVID tests
Las Vegas-based Veterans Affairs Southern Nevada Healthcare System has stopped testing asymptomatic patients for COVID-19 before surgical procedures, it announced April 10.
3 steps to subdue C. auris, per Mass General experts
From 2019 to 2021, 17 states reported their first case of Candida auris, a yeast fungal infection becoming more resistant to treatment. Three Massachusetts General Hospital experts told Becker’s the three ways to contain the spread.
Proposed EPA rules target sterilization facilities
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed two new standards to reduce ethylene oxide emissions and protect workers exposed to the gas during sterilization processes.
3 key barriers facing infection prevention and control efforts
From drug resistance to the growing threat of Candida auris, today’s infection preventionists face a growing to-do list with limited resources.
By itself, masking in hospitals doesn't stop COVID-19 spread: Study
In a large hospital in London, removing mask rules for visitors and staff did not result in a “statistically significant change” in the rate of COVID-19 infections, a study published April 6 found, adding more questions to the swirling debate of mask e…
