[Social marketing: applying commercial strategies to the prevention of nosocomial infections].

Although a large proportion of healthcare-associated infections are avoidable, healthcare workers do not always practice evidence-based preventive strategies. Marketing technologies might help to improve patient safety. This article presents the basic principles of marketing and its potential use to promote good infection control practices.

Knowledge of standard and isolation precautions in a large teaching hospital.

Objective: To assess the level of knowledge regarding and attitudes toward standard and isolation precautions among healthcare workers in a hospital.

Method: A confidential, self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in a random sample of 1500 nurses and 500 physicians in a large teaching hospital.

Results: A total of 1,241 questionnaires were returned (response rate, 62%).

Variation in nosocomial infection prevalence according to patient care setting:a hospital-wide survey.

A study was performed to estimate the prevalence of nosocomial infections (NI) and assess differences between medical care settings in one hospital complex. A seven-day period-prevalence survey was conducted in May 1998 in a large primary and tertiary healthcare centre in Geneva, Switzerland, that included all patients in acute, sub-acute and chronic care settings. Variables included demography, exposure to invasive devices and antibiotics, surgical history, and patients' localization.