Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are used to prevent the spread of germs but may not be as effective as many believe. Further, some ingredients in these products are toxic which means that their use could cause both short and long-term side effects. Recently, the U.S Food and Drug Administration has voiced concerns and asked manufacturers to …
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Studies show that overall, nurses are better at complying with hand hygiene requirements in clinical settings than physicians are. Both types of clinicians fall short of the 100-percent compliance mark as a group, though, and factors such as burnout can lead nurses to decrease hand-washing compliance on a regular basis. Nurse and Physician Hand Hygiene …
Whether prescribed or purchased as part of a fitness fad, wearable devices are changing the healthcare industry by reducing costs, increasing communication between patients and providers, decreasing recovery times, and even fostering compliance wins in facilities. The International Data Corporation clocked the wearable device industry at 101.9 million units sold in 2016 and estimates the …
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Sometimes a new more-powerful antibiotic is right under your feet. Dirt may be the answer to a new class of antibiotics scientists have named malacidins. In something as simple and everyday as dirt, researchers at Rockefeller University in New York, have found a new antibiotic that shows promise for wiping out some of our toughest …
A single important act — hand washing — can prevent disease both in hospital settings and in the community. Children are taught handwashing from a young age, and, thanks to the public health efforts of multiple national and worldwide organizations, routine handwashing has become commonplace in a variety of public settings. According to the Centers …
Why Are Women Better at Washing Their Hands Than Men? Read More »
My sordid past with healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) began years ago when my cousin caught an HAI in a hospital emergency room. He had originally gone to the ER for stitches after falling off of his bike, but a few weeks after his visit, he started to feel ill. When he returned to the hospital, the …
How Vitalacy Uses Artificial Intelligence to Promote Patient Safety Read More »
Golden-era science fiction dreams met widespread practical application in 2017 as machine learning increasingly became capable of performance in a production environment. From factories to finance, artificial intelligence and deep learning are leveraged to quickly analyze and act on big data, and the healthcare industry isn’t immune to these upgrades. In fact, the intersection between …
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Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are the most common complication people develop during their time in a hospital. In the developed world, 7 out of every 100 inpatients catch some kind of infection from their environment, while HAIs are the principal reason for 1 out of every 25 hospital admissions. Worse, facility-caused infections lead to 99,000 preventable …
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For more than a decade, the Joint Commission has stressed good hand hygiene as a condition of accreditation at its 21,000 associated healthcare facilities. Despite this, the Commission reports that proper procedures – by which they mean handwashing practices endorsed by either the CDC or the World Health Organization – are observed only around half …
What Does the New Joint Commission Mandate Mean for Hospital Hygiene? Read More »
What goes down the drain in hospitals is not pretty – Learn how hospital environments could be “potential reservoirs of bacteria”. The rise of superbugs has long been an issue, but perhaps we haven’t realized how quickly they are able to spread in the most unexpected places, until now. A recent report unveils how hospitals …
Superbugs in hospital pipes – Is anyone really safe? Read More »
