Latent factors affecting safer injection practices that can reduce infections and how education can improve them.

Background: The incidence of healthcare-associated infections, particularly injection-related infections, can increase patient comorbidities even in countries with adequate medical resources. Although there are clear guidelines for injection practices to prevent infections, their application in clinical settings is insufficient. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify factors affecting injection practices associated with reduced infections by conducting surveys targeting practicing healthcare providers involved in administering injections at each healthcare organization and performing data analysis.

Impact of Infection Prevention Programs on Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Analyzed in Multicenter Study.

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) account for a large proportion of healthcare-associated infections and have a significant impact on morbidity, length of hospital stay, and mortality. Adherence to the recommended infection prevention practices can effectively reduce the incidence of CAUTIs. This study aimed to assess the characteristics of CAUTIs and the efficacy of prevention programs across hospitals of various sizes.

Are We Truly Safe? Unfolding the Final Chapters of COVID-19 Walk-Through Booths.

This research proposes a safety strategy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) walk-through booths to optimize pandemic preparedness. These booths, designed for respiratory sample collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, effectively reduce infection risk and personal protective equipment-related fatigue among healthcare workers. However, inadequate disinfection and glove management could escalate infection transmission.

Epidemiology of Carbapenem-Resistant Bacteremia in Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea, between 2018 and 2021.

The incidence of carbapenem-resistant (CRE) has been increasing since 2008, with Gyeonggi Province in South Korea being particularly vulnerable due to its large number of healthcare facilities. This study examines the trends of CRE occurrence in Gyeonggi Province over the past four years and the epidemiological characteristics of the infected patients. Patients with positive CRE blood cultures admitted to healthcare facilities in Gyeonggi Province from January 2018 to December 2021 were evaluated in this study.

External and internal validation of healthcare-associated infection data collected by the Korean National healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance System (KONIS).

Background: This study analyzed the validity of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) data of the Korean National healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance System.

Methods: The validation process consisted of external (EV) and internal (IV) validation phases. Of the 193 hospitals that participated from July 2016 through June 2017, EV was performed for 10 hospitals that were selected based on the HAI rate percentile.

Guidelines for Surgery of Confirmed or Suspected COVID-19 Patients.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread widely across the world since January 2020. There are many challenges when caring for patients with COVID-19, one of which is infection prevention and control. In particular, in cases where surgery must absolutely be performed, special infection control may be required in order to perform surgery without spreading infection within the hospital.

KSNM/KSID/KOSHIC Guidance for Nuclear Medicine Department Against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

The dramatic spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has profound impacts on every continent and life. Due to human-to-human transmission of COVID-19, nuclear medicine staffs also cannot escape the risk of infection from workplaces. Every staff in the nuclear medicine department must prepare for and respond to COVID-19 pandemic which tailored to the characteristics of our profession.

An Application of Item Response Theory to Scoring Patient Safety Culture Survey Data.

Patient safety culture is important in preventing medical errors. Thus, many instruments have been developed to measure it. Yet, few studies focus on the data processing step.

Ensuring Taiwan patient safety culture survey is free from differential item functioning.

Background: Differential item functioning (DIF) means the interference of some demographic characteristic or grouping of the tight relationship between trait levels. DIF threatens precise interpretations of survey results and makes them unreliable. The aim of this study was to examine whether the succinct version of Taiwan Patient Safety Culture (TPSC-S) survey is free from DIF and to mitigate its impact if needed.

Ten-year surveillance of central line-associated bloodstream infections in South Korea: Surveillance not enough, action needed.

Background: Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are preventable health care-associated infections that can lead to increased mortality. Therefore, we investigated trends in CLABSI rates, and the factors associated with changing trends over a 10-year period using the Korean National Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance System (KONIS).

Methods: We investigated annual CLABSI rates from 2006 to 2015 in 190 KONIS-participating intensive care units (ICUs) from 107 participating hospitals.

Qualitative content analysis of psychologic discomfort and coping process after needlestick injuries among health care workers.

Background: This study was designed to survey psychologic discomfort and coping processes of health care workers that suffered needlestick injuries (NSIs).

Methods: This qualitative analysis was performed with 15 health care workers who experienced NSIs. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews.