Improvement of transfusion practice and reduction in red blood cell utilization in Belgian hospitals: Results of a national survey and benchmarking.

Background And Objectives: Belgian health authorities launched a national platform in 2011 to improve the quality of transfusion practices and blood use in Belgian hospitals. No data were available about the quality of hospital transfusion practice at the national level.

Materials And Methods: Three consecutive national surveys (2012, 2014 and 2016) were performed in all 111 Belgian hospitals to assess the degree of implementation of standards in four process domains related to red blood cell (RBC) transfusion: general quality aspects, ordering of RBC, electronic traceability and reporting of adverse events.

Higher-order connections between stereotyped subsets: implications for improved patient classification in CLL.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by the existence of subsets of patients with (quasi)identical, stereotyped B-cell receptor (BcR) immunoglobulins. Patients in certain major stereotyped subsets often display remarkably consistent clinicobiological profiles, suggesting that the study of BcR immunoglobulin stereotypy in CLL has important implications for understanding disease pathophysiology and refining clinical decision-making. Nevertheless, several issues remain open, especially pertaining to the actual frequency of BcR immunoglobulin stereotypy and major subsets, as well as the existence of higher-order connections between individual subsets.

Antibiotic management teams in Belgian hospitals: continued improvement in the period from 2007 to 2011.

Since 2002, the Belgian Antibiotic Policy Coordination Committee (BAPCOC) has supported the development of antibiotic management teams (AMTs) in Belgian hospitals with policy guidance and federal funding for antibiotic managers. We report on the analysis of the activity reports for the year 2011 and compare the results with those for 2007. A structured questionnaire survey was performed on the composition, organisation and service activities of the AMT in all acute care and larger chronic care hospitals in the country in 2011.

Nationwide implementation of antibiotic management teams in Belgian hospitals: a self-reporting survey.

Objectives: Antibiotic management teams (AMTs) have been advocated to optimize the use of antimicrobials in hospitals. Since 2002, the Belgian Antibiotic Policy Coordination Committee (BAPCOC) has supported the development of AMTs in Belgian hospitals with policy guidance and federal funding for antibiotic managers. We performed a national, self-reporting survey to assess the level of AMT activities in 2007.

Evaluation of a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for the diagnosis of pneumococcal and meningococcal meningitis in a tertiary care hospital.

This study evaluated the performance of a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay in comparison with Gram staining and culture of cerebrospinal fluid for the diagnosis of meningococcal and pneumococcal meningitis in patients with suspected bacterial meningitis. The sensitivity for detection of Neisseria meningitidis in cerebrospinal fluid was 87% (20/23) for the PCR assay, 27% (6/22) for Gram staining, and 17% (4/23) for culture. The sensitivity for detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae in cerebrospinal fluid was 100% (14/14) for the PCR assay, 62% (8/13) for Gram staining, and 36% (5/14) for culture.