Automating Case Reporting of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea to Public Health Authorities in Illinois Clinics: Implementation and Evaluation of Findings.

Background: Chlamydia and gonorrhea cases continue to rise in Illinois, increasing by 16.4% and 70.9% in 2019, respectively, compared with 2015.

National Healthcare Safety Network Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratios (SAARs): A Progress Report and Risk Modeling Update Using 2017 Data.

Background: The Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratio (SAAR) is a risk-adjusted metric of antimicrobial use (AU) developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2015 as a tool for hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) to track and compare AU with a national benchmark. In 2018, CDC updated the SAAR by expanding the locations and antimicrobial categories for which SAARs can be calculated and by modeling adult and pediatric locations separately.

Methods: We identified eligible patient-care locations and defined SAAR antimicrobial categories.

Development and Validation of an Assessment Tool for Competency in Critical Care Ultrasound.

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound is an emerging technology in critical care medicine. Despite requirements for critical care medicine fellowship programs to demonstrate knowledge and competency in point-of-care ultrasound, tools to guide competency-based training are lacking.

Objective: We describe the development and validity arguments of a competency assessment tool for critical care ultrasound.

Practical Considerations for Matching STD and HIV Surveillance Data with Data from Other Sources.

Data to guide programmatic decisions in public health are needed, but frequently epidemiologists are limited to routine case report data for notifiable conditions such as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, case report data are frequently incomplete or provide limited information on comorbidity or risk factors. Supplemental data often exist but are not easily accessible, due to a variety of real and perceived obstacles.

Nursing skill mix and nursing time: the roles of registered nurses and clinical nurse specialists.

Objective: The roles of clinical nurse specialists (CNS) and registered nurses, while similar, should also be quite different, with the CNS functioning as an advanced practice nurse. Differences in roles can be partially explained and understood by examining the use of their time. Adjustments to skill mix usually involve using more plentiful but less-skilled workers, and there is a growing body of overseas research in this field.

Nursing: a stepping stone to future careers.

Objective: To identify the range of positions to which registered nurses moved when they left the profession and to explore the perceptions of respondents about the skills and experiences gained from performing nursing work.

Background Data: Many nurses do not remain employed in nursing positions for the duration of their working life. This pattern of career change has been seen in many countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.