Specialty Pharmacy Services Compared to Community-Based Pharmacy Services on HIV Viral Load.

Background: People with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) with viral load (VL) suppression eliminate the risk of sexual transmission. Many factors including decreased ART adherence and/or medication access barriers decrease the success of treatment as an HIV prevention strategy. ART access may be enhanced with specialty pharmacy services, but the impact compared to community-based practices is variably reported.

Preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infections: A position paper of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 2024 update.

Objectives: This review, conducted by a panel of experts assembled by the International Society for Infectious Diseases, seeks to consolidate the latest recommendations for preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). It offers insights into CAUTI rates and the associated extended hospital stays, costs, mortality, and risk factors across high- and low- to middle-income countries.

Methods: An in-depth review of current recommendations and evidence-based strategies for CAUTI prevention was undertaken.

Maintaining prevention focus: the impact of an interdisciplinary taskforce on CAUTI rates during an EMR transition.

We employed an interrupted time series analysis to assess the impact of changing electronic medical records, concurrent with a Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) Taskforce, on CAUTI rates. We found that rates increased in most ICUs before returning to baseline. These findings suggest that a multi-faceted approach may reduce CAUTI rates.

A randomized trial comparing the intraoperative durability of double-gloving with Biogel® surgical gloves to 3 comparators.

Objective: To determine and compare the intraoperative durability of 4 major surgical glove brands.

Design Setting And Participants: This study is a randomized open-label clinical trial in which surgical gloves from 4 manufacturers are randomized to 5 surgical subspecialty study groups: (1) orthopedic surgery, (2) neurosurgery, (3) colorectal surgery, (4) trauma or acute general surgery, and (5) cardiac and plastic surgeries. The study was divided into 10 periods, with a cross-over design, and was conducted at a tertiary care academic medical center.

Contact precautions for MRSA and VRE: where are we now? A survey of the Research Network.

Objective: Contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant (VRE) have limited data on efficacy and have been associated with patient harm. Still, a 2015 (SHEA) Research Network (SRN) survey showed only 7% of hospitals discontinued routine MRSA/VRE contact precautions. The study objectives were to identify the current proportion of hospitals that have discontinued routine MRSA/VRE contact precautions and motivations for change.

Toward Standardization and High Reliability: Improved Sepsis Screening in Emergency Department Triage Across an Academic Health System.

Background: Sepsis is a life-threatening emergency, and early recognition and treatment in the emergency department (ED) is critical to improving outcomes.

Methods: The authors implemented an interdisciplinary quality improvement (QI) project to standardize sepsis screening workflow across an academic health system consisting of a large tertiary care urban hospital, one freestanding ED, and two small rural affiliate hospitals (RA-1 and RA-2). The research team used the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Model for Improvement framework, consisting of iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.

Five steps to high quality antimicrobial stewardship research.

The escalating threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) necessitates impactful, reproducible, and scalable antimicrobial stewardship strategies. This review addresses the critical need to enhance the quality of antimicrobial stewardship intervention research. We propose five considerations for authors planning and evaluating antimicrobial stewardship initiatives.

Confronting the Disruption of the Infectious Diseases Workforce by Artificial Intelligence: What This Means for Us and What We Can Do About It.

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), the field of infectious diseases (ID) faces both innovation and disruption. AI and its subfields including machine learning, deep learning, and large language models can support ID clinicians' decision making and streamline their workflow. AI models may help ensure earlier detection of disease, more personalized empiric treatment recommendations, and allocation of human resources to support higher-yield antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention strategies.

Contact precautions as a barrier to hand hygiene: The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework to improve compliance with gloved hand hygiene.

In an identified quality improvement effort, nurses were observed regarding their workflow while in contact precaution rooms. Multiple opportunities for hand hygiene were missed while nurses were in gloves, predominantly while moving between "dirty" and "clean" tasks. An education initiative afterward did not show improvement in hand hygiene rates.

Minimizing Low-Value, Uncompensated Work in Academic Infectious Diseases: A 6-Step Program.

Uncompensated work in academic infectious diseases (ID) may be high value (eg, important for academic promotion or necessary for advancement to leadership roles) or low value (eg, not aligning with or contributing to professional goals and aspirations). "Curbside" consultations, participation in hospital committees outside of professional interests, and other "citizenship" tasks are common examples of threats to our valuable time as ID providers. Herein, we define the scope of the problem of low-value uncompensated work in academic ID and outline a 6-step program to minimize these threats.

Are reporting guidelines used in infectious diseases publications? An analysis of more than 1,000 articles.

Objective: To assess whether 16 reporting guidelines of Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of Health Research (EQUATOR) were used in infectious diseases research publications.

Design: This cross-sectional, audit-type study assessed articles published in five infectious diseases journals in 2019.

Methods: All articles were manually reviewed to assess if a reporting guideline was advisable and searched for the names and acronyms of 16 reporting guidelines.

Gender balance in infectious diseases and hospital epidemiology journals.

Objective: Diversity is recognized as a driver of excellence and innovation. Women represent a significant part of the infectious diseases (ID) and hospital epidemiology (HE) workforce. We aimed to assess gender representation among editors of top ID and HE journals and explore potential correlations with the gender of first and last authors in published articles.

A comparison of severity of illness between the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and Delta variant.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionally affected traditionally marginalized groups. Both the Delta and Omicron variants raised concern amongst public health officials due to potentially higher infectivity rates and disease severity than prior variants. This study sought to compare disease severity between adults infected with the Omicron variant and adults infected with the Delta variant who presented to the Emergency Department at an academic, safety-net hospital in Virginia.

Leading teams while exhausted: Perspectives from healthcare epidemiology and beyond.

Mental fatigue and burnout are concerns for healthcare organizations, but their effects on leaders have not been thoroughly studied. Infectious diseases teams and leaders are at risk for mental fatigue and burnout due to the increased demands from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, additive effects of severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (omicron) and δ (delta) variant surges, and unique pre-existing pressures. No single intervention can reduce stress and burnout in healthcare workers.

Characterizing burnout among healthcare epidemiologists in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of the SHEA Research Network.

A multisite research team proposed a survey to assess burnout among healthcare epidemiologists. Anonymous surveys were disseminated to eligible staff at SRN facilities. Half of the respondents were experiencing burnout.

Estimating the effect of active detection and isolation on infections in a bone marrow transplant unit.

Objective: To model the effects of active detection and isolation (ADI) regarding infection (CDI) in the bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit of our hospital.

Setting: ADI was implemented in a 21-patient bone marrow unit.

Patients: Patients were bone marrow recipients on this unit.