Reducing Clostridioides difficile Infections in a Medical Intensive Care Unit: A Multimodal Quality Improvement Initiative.

Background: Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection causes significant morbidity for hospitalized patients. A large medical intensive care unit had an increase in C.

Enhancement of infection prevention case review process to optimize learning from defects.

Hospitals continue to struggle with preventable healthcare-associated infections. Whereas the focus is generally on proactive prevention processes, performing retrospective case reviews of infections can identify opportunities for quality improvement and maximize learning from defects. This brief article provides practical information for structuring the case review process using readily available health system platforms.

Memes and Poetry: A Descriptive Analysis on Creative Arts Therapy to Reduce Health Care Worker Burnout.

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) face high levels of burnout, which can lead to workforce turnover and poor patient outcomes. Health care leaders should identify strategies to improve staff resilience.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe HCWs' perspective on using creative arts therapy to reduce burnout and improve resiliency.

Sustained reduction in catheter-associated urinary tract infections using multi-faceted strategies led by champions: A quality improvement initiative.

We reviewed the sustainability of a multifaceted intervention on catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) in 3 intensive care units. During the 4-year postintervention period, we observed reductions in urine culture rates (from 80.9 to 47.

Multi-faceted strategies improve collection compliance and sample acceptance rate for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) active surveillance testing.

Background: Active surveillance testing (AST) is one element of a comprehensive Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) prevention strategy. However, the utility of AST may be impacted by compliance with sample collection and the quality of specimens. Here, we describe strategies used to optimize a CRE AST program at a large academic medical center.

Molecular epidemiology of an outbreak of human parainfluenza virus 3 among oncology patients.

A hospital outbreak of human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV-3) in haematologic oncology patients is described in 12 patients over a four-week period. Exposure histories and molecular analysis of HPIV-3 isolates suggest that both community-acquired and nosocomially transmitted infections occurred during this outbreak. Molecular analysis of HPIV-3 isolates indicated that a chain of transmission occurred among multiple patients in an oncology ward.

Implementation Strategies to Improve Evidence-Based Bathing Practices in a Neuro ICU.

Background: Evidence supports daily bathing using chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) cloths to decrease preventable hospital-acquired central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). However, implementation of this practice is inconsistent. Using multifaceted strategies to promote implementation is supported in the literature, yet there is a gap in knowing which strategies are most successful.

Testing the cognitive catalyst model of rumination with explicit and implicit cognitive content.

Background And Objectives: The cognitive catalyst model posits that rumination and negative cognitive content, such as negative schema, interact to predict depressive affect. Past research has found support for this model using explicit measures of negative cognitive content such as self-report measures of trait self-esteem and dysfunctional attitudes. The present study tested whether these findings would extend to implicit measures of negative cognitive content such as implicit self-esteem, and whether effects would depend on initial mood state and history of depression.

(Can't Get No) Patient Satisfaction: The Predictive Power of Demographic, GI, and Psychological Factors in IBS Patients.

Goals: The goal of this study is to assess: (1) the relative contribution of patient factors to satisfaction ratings in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and (2) the relationship between patient satisfaction (PS) and the number of diagnostic tests patients underwent prior to receiving IBS diagnosis.

Background: Although PS is regarded as an important indicator of quality of care, little is known about its determinants.

Study: A total of 448 Rome III-diagnosed patients (M age=41 y; 79% F), whose GI symptoms were at least moderate in severity completed patient-reported outcome measures as part of pretreatment evaluation of an NIH-funded clinical trial.

Applying the robust adaptation planning (RAP) framework to Ghana's agricultural climate change adaptation regime.

This paper introduces a five-step framework, namely the Robust Adaptation Planning (RAP) framework, to plan and respond to the 'grand challenge' of climate change. RAP combines, under a unified framework, elements from robust action, participatory planning and network theory to capture the different motives, perception, and roles of actors that are important for climate change adaptation. RAP leverages existing structures and networks and involves diverse actors to plan, sequence and time strategies across multiple levels (i.

Systematic review of nutrient intake and growth in children with multiple IgE-mediated food allergies.

Background: Food allergies affect up to 8% of American children. The current recommended treatment for food allergies is strict elimination of the allergens from the diet. Dietary elimination of nutrient-dense foods may result in inadequate nutrient intake and impaired growth.

Acetylcholinesterase levels in brains of fishes from polluted waters.

Distressed menhaden collected from the Ashley River, South Carolina, were found to have 46.8% less acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in brain homogenates as compared to menhaden collected from offshore waters. Menhaden and croakers also taken from the Ashley River, but not in a distressed condition, were found to be 16.