The practical ethics of repurposing health data: how to acknowledge invisible data work and the need for prioritization.

Throughout the Global North, policymakers invest in large-scale integration of health-data infrastructures to facilitate the reuse of clinical data for administration, research, and innovation. Debates about the ethical implications of data repurposing have focused extensively on issues of patient autonomy and privacy. We suggest that it is time to scrutinize also how the everyday work of healthcare staff is affected by political ambitions of data reuse for an increasing number of purposes, and how different purposes are prioritized.

Colonization with Staphylococcus aureus in patients with hand eczema: Prevalence and association with severity, atopic dermatitis, subtype and nasal colonization.

Background: While Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) colonization has been thoroughly studied in atopic dermatitis (AD), where S. aureus is related to flares and considered a trigger factor, S.

International promotion of e-Bug, an infection prevention and control educational intervention: survey of partners across 14 countries.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat to public health. e-Bug is an educational resource developed and promoted by a network of international partners. e-Bug seeks to reduce the spread of infection and use of antimicrobials in young people and the community, so helping to control AMR.

Clinical experiences with a new system for automated hand hygiene monitoring: A prospective observational study.

Background: Hand hygiene compliance (HHC) among health care workers remains suboptimal, and good monitoring systems are lacking. We aimed to evaluate HHC using an automated monitoring system.

Methods: A prospective, observational study was conducted at 2 Danish university hospitals employing a new monitoring system (Sani nudge).

A joint Nordic interdisciplinary education programme in infection control: a successful, but short-lived initiative.

Introduction: Prevention of healthcare-associated infections and a restrictive antibiotics policy in the Nordic countries have contributed to a low prevalence of multi-drug resistant microorganisms, compared to many other countries. This requires professional competences acquired through education in infection control, both in hospitals and in primary health care.

Methods: This paper describes a joint Nordic Interdisciplinary Education Programme in infection control, established at the Nordic School of Public Health NHV (NHV) in 2007.

The role and utilisation of public health evaluations in Europe: a case study of national hand hygiene campaigns.

Background: Evaluations are essential to judge the success of public health programmes. In Europe, the proportion of public health programmes that undergo evaluation remains unclear. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control sought to determine the frequency of evaluations amongst European national public health programmes by using national hand hygiene campaigns as an example of intervention.

Overview of e-Bug: an antibiotic and hygiene educational resource for schools.

Antibiotic resistance is an increasing community problem and is related to antibiotic use. If antibiotic use could be reduced, the tide of increasing resistance could be stemmed. e-Bug is a European project involving 18 European countries, partly funded by The Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) of the European Commission.

Development of an educational resource on microbes, hygiene and prudent antibiotic use for junior and senior school children.

Health promotion interventions aimed at children and young people have the potential to lay the foundations for healthy lifestyles. One such intervention, e-Bug, aims to provide schoolchildren with knowledge of prudent antibiotic use and how to reduce the spread of infection. Many children and schools approach learning in different ways; therefore, it is essential to research school needs and the variety of learning styles when creating any school resources.

What are school children in Europe being taught about hygiene and antibiotic use?

e-Bug is a pan-European antibiotic and hygiene teaching resource that aims to reinforce awareness in school children of microbes, prudent antibiotic use, hygiene and the transmission of infection. Prior to the production of the resource, it was essential to examine the educational structure across each partner country and assess what school children were being taught on these topics. A questionnaire was devised for distribution to each European partner (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain), exploring their educational structure and examining educational resources or campaigns currently available.

Implementation of e-Bug in Denmark.

Bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents in primary healthcare is low in Denmark compared with most other European countries. Denmark has a vaccination programme for children that recommends immunization against 10 infectious diseases, including a heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) and a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV). Outbreaks in schools due to other infectious illnesses are well recognized and have seasonal variations.

Developing e-Bug web games to teach microbiology.

As a complement to the e-Bug teaching pack, two e-Bug games were developed to provide content that aimed to entertain as well as to educate. A set of agreed learning outcomes (LOs) were provided by the scientific partners of the e-Bug Project and the games were developed using user-centred design techniques (the needs, wants and limitations of the potential game players were assessed at each stage of the design process). The e-Bug games were designed for two age groups: Junior (9-12 year olds); and Senior (13-15 year olds).

[Infection control to prevent tuberculosis in relation to resistance to antibiotics].

Infection control differs among nations. Notably in USA strict measures are enforced to prevent air-borne tuberculosis (TB) transmission. In several European countries focus is on droplet transmission, close to patients.

[Hand hygiene--is it really that difficult?].

This paper addresses the apparent discrepancy between knowledge of infection control guidelines--in particular concerning hand hygiene--and the lack of compliance by health care workers. Several factors are involved, including the personal experiences of the single person and the group of staff members--the authentic knowledge. This must be taken into consideration when preparing guidelines, which should reflect daily work situations in health care.

[Infection Control in primary health care].

Infection control in primary health care Infection control in primary health care is underreported and often underestimated. Cross contamination can happen by indirect contact, and general hygienic precautions should be established in all procedures where HCWs are at risk of contact with organic material. This article suggests infection control measures that can be established in primary health care regarding hand hygiene, cleaning and reprocessing of utensils.

Infection control in day-care centres in Greenland.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine hygienic habits and precautions taken with main focus on hand hygiene, cleaning and laundry in day-care centres in Greenland.

Methods: In the period 2000-2002 we investigated 33 day-care centres in towns along the west coast of Greenland using a questionnaire. The majority of the day-care centres (18/33) were found in the biggest towns in Greenland Nuuk and Sisimiut.