Publications by authors named "A Lynn Cromer"

Background: Diabetic foot infection represents a significant complication of diabetes mellitus, contributing substantially to morbidity, mortality, and healthcare expenditure worldwide. Accurate diagnosis relies on a comprehensive assessment integrating clinical evaluation, imaging studies, and microbiological analysis. Management necessitates a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing surgical intervention, antimicrobial therapy, and advanced wound care strategies.

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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 infections (CDI-HOs) (43 hospitals); surgical site infections (SSIs) (40 hospitals). From 2016 to 2022, the total cost of CLABSIs, CAUTIs, CDI-HOs, and SSIs was $420,012,025.

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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 control (SPC) methods and feedback for SSI surveillance would decrease rates of SSI in a network of US community hospitals.

Methods: We conducted a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial of patients who underwent any of 13 types of common surgical procedures across 29 community hospitals in the Southeastern United States.

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Article Synopsis
  • The COVID-19 pandemic significantly strained US healthcare systems, with a lack of comprehensive assessments on its impact on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) across various hospitals.
  • A study analyzed data from 53 hospitals in the Southeastern US, observing an increase in central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) by 24% and ventilator-associated events (VAEs) by 34% during the pandemic, particularly affecting smaller community hospitals.
  • The findings indicate a pressing need to improve infection control measures and expand infectious disease (ID) expertise in community hospitals that struggled more during the pandemic.
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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 capacity, and uniformity in infection prevention policies. Most importantly, the survey highlighted an increase in staffing shortages and use of travel nursing.

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