Comparing multiple infection control measures in a nursing home setting: a simulation study.

Objective: Compare the effectiveness of multiple mitigation measures designed to protect nursing home residents from infectious disease outbreaks.

Design: Agent-based simulation study.

Setting: Simulation environment of a small nursing home.

Ecological momentary assessment of pelvic pain and urinary urgency variability in urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome and their association with illness impact and quality of life: Findings from the multidisciplinary approach to the study of chronic pelvic pain symptom patterns study.

Purpose: This study tested the hypothesis that ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of pelvic pain (PP) and urinary urgency (UU) would reveal unique Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (UCPPS) phenotypes that would be associated with disease specific quality of life (QOL) and illness impact metrics (IIM).

Materials And Methods: A previously validated smart phone app (M-app) was provided to willing Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) participants. M-app notifications were sent 4-times daily for 14 days inquiring about PP and UU severity.

A Mobile Phone Application for Assessing Daily Variation in Pain Location and Pain Intensity in Patients with Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A MAPP Network Study.

Introduction: We created and tested a mobile app that facilitates the ecological momentary assessment of pain intensity and pain location and identifies heterogeneous patient pain phenotypes.

Methods: A mobile app was created with patient, clinician and researcher input. A sample of 20 participants with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome were then asked to complete a 14-day pain assessment using the app.

Continuous in-home PM concentrations of smokers with and without a history of respiratory exacerbations in Iowa, during and after an air purifier intervention.

Background: Americans spend most of their time indoors. Indoor particulate matter (PM) 2.5 µm and smaller (PM) concentrations often exceed ambient concentrations.

Indoor Particulate Matter From Smoker Homes Induces Bacterial Growth, Biofilm Formation, and Impairs Airway Antimicrobial Activity. A Pilot Study.

Particulate matter (PM) air pollution causes deleterious health effects; however, less is known about health effects of indoor air particulate matter (IAP). To understand whether IAP influences distinct mechanisms in the development of respiratory tract infections, including bacterial growth, biofilm formation, and innate immunity. Additionally, we tested whether IAP from Iowa houses of subjects with and without recent respiratory exacerbations recapitulated the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) IAP findings.

Estimating Time Physicians and Other Health Care Workers Spend with Patients in an Intensive Care Unit Using a Sensor Network.

Background: Time and motion studies have been used to investigate how much time various health care professionals spend with patients as opposed to performing other tasks. However, the majority of such studies are done in outpatient settings, and rely on surveys (which are subject to recall bias) or human observers (which are subject to observation bias). Our goal was to accurately measure the time physicians, nurses, and critical support staff in a medical intensive care unit spend in direct patient contact, using a novel method that does not rely on self-report or human observers.

Electronic recognition of hand hygiene technique and duration.

We captured 3-dimensional accelerometry data from the wrists of 116 healthcare professionals as they performed hand hygiene (HH). We then used these data to train a k-nearest-neighbors classifier to recognize specific aspects of HH technique (ie, fingertip scrub) and measure the duration of HH events.

Do peer effects improve hand hygiene adherence among healthcare workers?

Objective: To determine whether hand hygiene adherence is influenced by peer effects and, specifically, whether the presence and proximity of other healthcare workers has a positive effect on hand hygiene adherence.

Design: An observational study using a sensor network.

Setting: A 20-bed medical intensive care unit at a large university hospital.

Using sensor networks to study the effect of peripatetic healthcare workers on the spread of hospital-associated infections.

Background: Super-spreading events, in which an individual with measurably high connectivity is responsible for infecting a large number of people, have been observed. Our goal is to determine the impact of hand hygiene noncompliance among peripatetic (eg, highly mobile or highly connected) healthcare workers compared with less-connected workers.

Methods: We used a mote-based sensor network to record contacts among healthcare workers and patients in a 20-bed intensive care unit.

Monitoring hand hygiene via human observers: how should we be sampling?

Objective: To explore how hand hygiene observer scheduling influences the number of events and unique individuals observed.

Design: We deployed a mobile sensor network to capture detailed movement data for 6 categories of healthcare workers over a 2-week period.

Setting:   University of Iowa Hospital and Clinic medical intensive care unit (ICU).

Healthcare personnel perceptions of hand hygiene monitoring technology.

Objective: To assess healthcare personnel (HCP) perceptions regarding implementation of sensor-based electronic systems for automated hand hygiene adherence monitoring.

Design: Using a mixed-methods approach, structured focus groups were designed to elicit quantitative and qualitative responses on familiarity, comfort level, and perceived impact of sensor-based hand hygiene adherence monitoring.

Setting: A university hospital, a Veterans Affairs hospital, and a community hospital in the Midwest.

Method for automated monitoring of hand hygiene adherence without radio-frequency identification.

Many efforts to automatically measure hand hygiene activity depend on radio-frequency identification equipment or similar technology that can be expensive to install. We have developed a method for automatically tracking the use of hand hygiene dispensers before healthcare workers enter (or after they exit) patient rooms that is easily and quickly deployed without permanent hardware.