Publications by authors named "Kaila Cooper"

is an emerging pathogen responsible for healthcare-associated infections and outbreaks. This organism has a high tolerance to both high temperatures and high salinity. We describe our experience with a outbreak in an 8-bed inpatient burn unit at an academic medical center.

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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.

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Purpose Of Review: Poor hand hygiene is well documented as a factor in healthcare-associated infections and excellent rates of hand hygiene remains elusive.

Recent Findings: There is increased use of universal or increased gloving to minimize hand contamination, but its use does not replace hand hygiene opportunities. There is significant interest in electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems, but they are not without their unique issues.

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Objective: We implemented a preoperative staphylococcal decolonization protocol for colorectal surgeries if efforts to further reduce surgical site infections (SSIs).

Design: Retrospective observational study.

Setting: Tertiary-care, academic medical center.

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Reason For Review: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way healthcare services are provided and created challenges to the delivery of behavioral health in the inpatient setting. Here, we present our front-line experience of infection prevention for the psychiatric patient in the COVID era.

Recent Findings: There are unique challenges surrounding COVID-19 precautions within inpatient psychiatric settings.

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The relationship between nursing staffing levels and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has been explored previously with conflicting results. This study uses daily shift records from 2 intensive care units (ICUs) to evaluate whether nuanced changes in nursing team composition impacts subsequent risk for device associated HAIs. Staffing deficiencies may be associated with periods of risk prior to central line-associated bloodstream infection in the ICU.

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The use of an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system (EHHMS) decreased due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We analyzed dispenser use, hand hygiene (HH) badge use, and HH compliance to determine the effect of COVID-19 on EHHMS use and HH compliance. HH product shortages and other pandemic-induced challenges influenced EHHMS use.

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Objective: To assess the impact of major interventions targeting infection control and diagnostic stewardship in efforts to decrease Clostridioides difficile hospital onset rates over a 6-year period.

Design: Interrupted time series.

Setting: The study was conducted in an 865-bed academic medical center.

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General guidance for personal protective equipment (PPE) is provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous research of PPE demonstrates the ability of gloves to harbor infectious pathogens. We surveyed health care workers to investigate current PPE practices during linen removal from patient rooms and during patient transport.

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The learning hospital is distinguished by ceaseless evolution of erudition, enhancement, and implementation of clinical best practices. We describe a model for the learning hospital within the framework of a hospital infection prevention program and argue that a critical assessment of safety practices is possible without significant grant funding. We reviewed 121 peer-reviewed manuscripts published by the VCU Hospital Infection Prevention Program over 16 years.

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We employed an interrupted time series analysis to assess the impact of ultraviolet-C light disinfection at terminal discharge in an oncology unit and a bone marrow transplant unit on the incidence of hospital-acquired infections. The deployment of ultraviolet-C light disinfection was associated with a significant decrease in the rate of Clostridioides difficile infections and a significant decrease in the rate of central line-associated blood stream infections in the bone marrow transplant unit.

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Interest in electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems (EHHMSs) is now widespread throughout the infection control community. We tested 2 types of EHHMS for accuracy. The type B EHHMS captured more HH events with superior accuracy.

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Background: Multiple studies have shown that bathing with chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) wipes reduces hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). We employed a mathematical model to assess the impact of CHG patient bathing on central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), and hospital-onset Clostridium difficile (C diff) infections and the associated costs.

Methods: Using a Markov chain, we examined the effect of CHG bathing compliance on HAI outcomes and the associated costs.

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In a 12-month study, a nurse driven protocol was implemented at a tertiary academic medical center. The purpose of the nurse driven protocol was to identify community-onset Clostridioides difficile infections, expeditiously isolate patients with presumed C difficile diarrheal illness, and prevent transmission while simultaneously decreasing the incidence of hospital-onset C difficile. The overall adherence to fidelity of the protocol was poor and failed to have a significant impact on infection rates.

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A primary strategy of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) prevention is standardized, aseptic insertion of central lines. We compared hospital-wide CLABSI rate pre- and post-implementation of a dedicated procedure team as well as central line checklist completion and patient-specific variables between the procedure team and other providers. No significant differences were found.

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We implemented an electronic medical record (EMR) decision support tool for ordering urine cultures per evidence-based guidelines. Following the EMR change, we found a significant increase in proportion of cultures ordered for catheterized intensive care unit (ICU) patients meeting guidelines. We surveyed providers and found poor understanding of urine culture guidelines for catheterized ICU patients.

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