Updating the guideline development methodology of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC)
By Craig A. Umscheid et al.
The Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) is a federal advisory committee made up of 14 external infection control and public health experts, who provide guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regarding the practice of health care infection prevention and control, strategies for surveillance, and prevention and control of health care-associated infections (HAIs) in United States health care facilities. As such, one of the primary functions of the committee is to issue recommendations for preventing and controlling HAIs in the form of guidelines and less formal communications.[1] and [2] Currently, HICPAC guidance documents are available on its Web site for download,1 and a number of additional documents have been published since HICPAC’s inception, most commonly in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE), and the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC).
References
1) Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee Web site. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/hicpac.html. Accessed March 18, 2009.
2) Anonymous. Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee; establishment?CDC: notice of establishment, Federal Register 56 (1991), p. 5006.
Full text please go to American Journal of Infection Control
Toothpaste (regular paste?not gel). This one?s my first pick always (good old regular Crest), it also helps clean up permanent marker stains pretty easily.
Artgum Eraser ? gently rub on marks in a circular motion, can also try a regular pencil eraser. Done carefully, this might be an option for wallpaper stains.
Baking Soda ? make a paste with water and use it to gently scrub the mark. You could also just sprinkle baking soda on a damp sponge and rub.
Baby Oil ? apply directly to crayon stains then rub off.
Mayonnaise ? Glob some on the stain and scrub a bit in a circular motion, then wipe off.
Shaving Cream ? apply to markings, rub in, then wipe off.
WD-40 ? spray some on the marks and rub off. Wash walls with hot soapy water once the crayon has been removed.
Turpentine ? dab some on a damp cloth and scrub into stain to remove crayon.
Lighter Fluid ? apply as you would turpentine
Goo Gone ? Same directions as for turpentine
Ammonia ? soak a section of cloth in household ammonia and scrub markings. You may also luck out with an ammonia based cleaner like Windex and a hot soapy cloth.
Vinegar ? soak a toothbrush in white vinegar and scrub marks off.
Heat ? Take a hair dryer to the crayon stain and allow it to heat the wax. Wipe heated crayon wax off with a hot, soapy cloth. You could try a clothes iron as well (no steam), just make sure it?s on a low heat setting so it won?t scorch the paint. Place a few paper towels between the wall and the iron.
Hand Lotion ? rub directly into crayon and wipe off.
Powdered Dishwasher Detergent ? make a paste with water and gently scrub area. Some detergents contain bleach so be careful on wallpaper.
Powdered Household Cleaners ? such as Ajax or Comet. Mix with some water or sprinkle on a damp sponge then scrub gently.
Non-stick Cooking Spray ? just spray it on then wipe off the marks. Not the best solution for wallpaper since this could leave a grease stain.
Hairspray ? spray generously on walls then scrub off the crayon.
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser ? go gently, you don?t want to rub off any paint.
Rubbing Alcohol ? Saturate part of a clean cloth then rub stains.
Moist Baby Wipe Towelettes ? Rub them directly on the crayon stains and scrub markings off. The homemade baby wipes should work too!
I’m so sorry that this blog has not updated for a while owing to time limitation. I am very busy at the moment with my project. However, I’ll try to put something useful for others.
The World Health Organization hand hygiene observation method
Monitoring hand hygiene adherence and providing performance feedback to health care workers is a critical component of multimodal hand hygiene promotion programs, but important variations exist in the way adherence is measured. Within the framework of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) First Global Patient Safety Challenge known as ?Clean Care is Safer Care,? an evidence-based, user-centered concept, ?My five moments for hand hygiene,? has been developed for measuring, teaching, and reporting hand hygiene adherence. This concept is an integral part of the WHO’s hand hygiene improvement strategy conceived to translate the WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care into practice. It has been tested in numerous health care facilities worldwide to ensure its applicability and adaptability to all settings irrespective of the resources available. Here we describe the WHO hand hygiene observation method in detail?the concept, the profile and the task of the observers, their training and validation, the data collection form, the scope, the selection of the observed staff, and the observation sessions?with the objective of making it accessible for universal use. Sample size estimates, survey analysis and report, and major bias and confounding factors associated with observation are discussed.
A comparison of the hand hygiene knowledge, beliefs, and practices of Greek nursing and medical students
Thea F. van de Mortel, Eleni Apostolopoulou, Georgios Petrikkos
Studies indicate that health care workers’ adherence to hand hygiene (HH) guidelines is poor (40%) and that physician status is a risk factor for nonadherence.1 Disciplinary differences in HH education and assessment during undergraduate training may impact on graduates’ behavior upon entering the workforce.
Several studies have examined aspects of health care students’ HH beliefs or practices. Duration of clinical experience[2] and [3]; gender2; the example of mentors2; and perceptions of handwashing benefits, barriers, and severity of infectious diseases4 significantly influenced self-reported[3] and [4] or observed HH compliance.2 Gaps in students’ HH knowledge were also identified by Sangkard3 and Mann and Wood.5 Sangkard’s survey of nursing students’ infection control knowledge in relation to human immunodeficiency virus infection included a short handwashing quiz with simple true/false questions. Students’ scores on this quiz ranged from 68% to 71%. Mann and Wood reported that medical students’ average score on a hand hygiene quiz was 52%. However, these studies cannot be used to make cross-disciplinary comparisons because the questions on the respective surveys were very different.
Thus, the objectives of this study were to (1) determine whether the HH knowledge, beliefs, practices, education, and assessment of undergraduate Greek nursing and medical students differed by discipline and (2) use this information to inform HH education and assessment in the undergraduate curriculum.
Several countries have conducted studies to assess the status of their infection control programs (ICP) with the objective of improving quality of infection control practices.
Methods
To assess the perceptions and attitudes of the health care workers (HCW) concerning ICP in Brazilian hospitals, we conducted a cross-sectional survey using a self-administered online questionnaire during a Web-based course (WBC) on infection control (IC) and antimicrobial resistance (AR).
Results
Of 6256 Brazilian HCW registered for the WBC, 1998 were members of infection control committees (ICC) and answered the survey. Eight hundred six (40.4%) respondents said that an ICP was established for more than 10 years in their institutions. Most professionals reported that their hospitals perform microbiologic surveillance targeted at epidemiologically important multidrug-resistant organisms, but the majority underestimated the prevalence of AR.
Conclusion
Our survey highlights important information about the perceptions and attitudes of ICC members that may be used to tailor key interventions for implementing effective ICP. It suggests, additionally, that, to achieve countrywide standardized IC mechanisms in a developing country, authorities should consider the social, cultural, and economical disparities between regions and identify specific regional needs to make available the resources required to minimize such disparities.
Full text alert at American Journal of Infection Control