Association between ventilator-associated events and implementation of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) ventilator weaning protocol.

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe and life-threatening condition that can occur in critically ill patients. Mechanical ventilation is a commonly used intervention with ARDS patients, but weaning patients off the ventilator can be challenging. An ARDSnet-like ventilator weaning protocol was implemented with the goal of reducing triggers for ventilator-associated events (VAEs).

An effective and automated approach for reducing infection risk from contaminated privacy curtains.

Privacy curtain contamination, including with multidrug-resistant organisms, and the associated infection transmission risks have been well described; however, current approaches for addressing these risks and available guidance are limited. The present study describes the successful reduction of curtain contamination in five different units within a tertiary care hospital utilizing continuous dry hydrogen peroxide (DHP). Microbial load was reduced by 99.

Evaluation of dry hydrogen peroxide in reducing microbial bioburden in a healthcare facility.

Background: Standard manual cleaning and disinfection practices are often inadequate. Persistent contamination in the environment poses an infection risk that may be mitigated by no-touch disinfection systems. This study evaluates the efficacy of dry hydrogen peroxide (DHP) on microbial air and surface contamination as an adjunct to routine cleaning and disinfection in a large urban hospital.

Infection preventionists and laboratorians: Case studies on successful collaboration.

Efforts to reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infection (HAI) remain a significant focus for health care facilities, particularly in this era of drug-resistant organisms. With as many as 1 in every 25 hospitalized patients acquiring an infection, the need to minimize the risk of HAIs is widely recognized as critical. Advances in the fields of biomedical technology, microbiology, pharmacology, and infection control and prevention, among others, have played a tremendous role in these efforts.