[Pediatric anesthesia emergence delirium after elective ambulatory surgery: etiology, risk factors and prevalence].

Introduction: Emergence delirium (ED) is a common problem among children and adults recovering from general anesthesia after surgery. Its symptoms include psychomotor agitation, hallucinations, and aggressive behavior. The phenomenon, which is most probably an adverse effect of general anesthesia agents, harms the recovery process and endangers the physical safety of patients and their health.

[The computerized patient record as a tool to improve monitoring and prevention of hospital acquired infections].

One of the major issues medical institutions deal with is hospital acquired infections (HAI's) and the invasion of antibiotic resistant organisms into these institutions. Antibiotic resistance influences morbidity, mortality and costs. In order to effectively manage the field of infection control of HAI's we constructed computerized clinical tools.

Adherence to guidelines of pain assessment and intervention in internal medicine wards.

Proper management of pain reduces morbidity, assists in recovery, and increases patient satisfaction. The role of a nurse in an accurate pain evaluation is pivotal. It seems that pain evaluation guidelines are not fully adhered to by nurses.

Reduction of blood culture contamination rate by an educational intervention.

The efficacy of an educational intervention to prevent blood culture contamination (BCC) in internal medicine was studied in two medical wards in a busy tertiary-care hospital in which blood cultures were obtained by physicians rather than dedicated phlebotomists. Baseline BCC rates were 5.7% and 7.

Impact of regular attendance by infectious disease specialists on the management of hospitalised adults with community-acquired febrile syndromes.

The impact of attendance by infectious disease specialists (IDS) on hospitalised adults with community-acquired infection was assessed by studying 402 consecutive febrile adults who were admitted randomly to either of two internal medicine wards over a 4-month period and given intravenous antibiotics. In ward 1, patients were attended by IDS, whereas those in ward 2 were attended by physicians from other specialties. In total, 160 patients were treated in ward 1 and 242 in ward 2 (median age 66 years; 49% male).

Prevention of infections associated with permanent cardiac antiarrhythmic devices by implementation of a comprehensive infection control program.

Objective: To implement a comprehensive infection control (IC) program for prevention of cardiac device-associated infections (CDIs).

Design: Prospective before-after trial with 2 years of follow-up.

Setting: A tertiary-care, university-affiliated medical center.

The need for routine pre-operative coagulation screening tests (prothrombin time PT/partial thromboplastin time PTT) for healthy children undergoing elective tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy.

In some medical centers, the routine pre-operative evaluation of healthy children undergoing elective tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy (T and A) includes coagulation screening tests (PT, prothrombin Time; PTT, partial thromboplastin time; and INR, international normalized ratio). In this retrospective study, we determined whether there is a positive correlation between prolonged PT/PTT/INR tests in healthy children, with no prior medical history of coagulation problems, and bleeding during surgery and/or bleeding in the month following surgery. We reviewed the records of 416 elective T and A surgeries performed at the Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva, Israel, over the course of 1999.

Impact of active monitoring of infection control practices on deep sternal infection after open-heart surgery.

Background: Deep-sternal infection is a devastating complication after open-heart surgery. However, the association between infection control practices and deep-sternal infection rates is unclear.

Methods: To identify contributors to increased deep-sternal infection rates in our institution, consecutive open-heart surgery patients were prospectively studied during two periods (75 and 40 days), including 66 and 40 patients, respectively.