Hospitals must implement additional measures to scope reprocessing procedures amid ongoing safety concern regarding instrumentation, according to patient safety experts. Anything less is unacceptable.
In April, a Pennsylvania patient was being treated for a urinary tract infection when her physicians discovered she had a strain of colistin-resistant E. coli. The discovery means an antibacterial-resistance exists for every type of antibiotic, creating the risk of an infection invulnerable to...
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still investigating four deaths caused by mold infections at UPMC, its “Notes from the Field” report says the room’s air pressure may have had a role in their deaths.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last week that it was cancelling the recall of 2,800 Custom Ultrasonics automated endoscope reprocessors (AER.) Custom Ultrasonics was one of the corporations embroiled in the duodenoscope scandal last year, after contaminated scopes caused scores...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 5
Reusable medical devices carry a special risk of infection if they aren't properly reprocessed and sterilized. This fact was clarified in recent months when scores of infection outbreaks and dozens of deaths were linked to defective endoscopes. Many of these outbreaks involved...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is attempting to develop better methods of measuring and reporting data on catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) rates.
A new study published in The Lancet has found that using antibiotic-impregnated central venous catheters (CVC) can halve the rate of bloodstream infections in children.
What can healthcare facilities do before then to improve CAUTI compliance before the Joint Commission's newest NPSG goes into effect on January 1, 2017?
On March 1, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Olympus Corp. with paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to hospitals and doctors to buy its products. The company, which owns 85% of the U.S. endoscope market, has agreed to pay $646 million to resolve the criminal charges and civil charges...
