Category: Infection Prevention and Control

Beating Biofilms

By: Kelly Cawcutt, MD, MS, FACP, FIDSA. Originally posted with CloroxPro, linked below. Biofilms play an important role in the development of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). In my line of work, I’m often reminded of their presence when handlining central venous catheters or endotracheal tubes, but biofilms can also be present on any environmental surfaces. Biofilms […]

Mar 18, 2021

Clinical Consequences of Contaminated Blood Cultures in Adult Hospitalized Patients at an Institution Utilizing a Rapid Blood-Culture Identification System

Blood culture contamination results in prolonged hospital length of stay, inappropriate use of antibiotics, and increased cost as well as the associated adverse events such as falls, drug errors, and healthcare associated infections (adverse events that may occur during more prolonged hospital stay) and emergence of antibiotic resistance, C. difficile infection, and antibiotic side effects […]

Jan 27, 2021

Infections Inside Out: Focus on Hospital-Acquired Infections

By: Kelly Cawcutt, MD, MS, FACP, FIDSA; Sponsored by Clorox Healthcare Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are infections acquired during medical care and are often directly related to the use of medical devices or procedures, along with lapses in critical infection control practices such hand hygiene, and appropriate cleaning and disinfection. Every day in the US, approximately […]

Jan 7, 2021

Infections Know No Bounds – The Reality of Infections in Healthcare Facilities

By: Kelly Cawcutt, MD, MS, FACP, FIDSA; Sponsored by Clorox Healthcare Infectious diseases remain a critical cause of morbidity, mortality and cost in all healthcare facilities including outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities and acute care facilities, such as hospitals. Infections can come from two main places – inside the hospital walls and from outside within […]

Dec 29, 2020

#PharmToExamTable: Treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection in adults: What is the evidence supporting a tapered vancomycin regimen?

This is a continuation of this month’s #PharmToExamTable question about C. difficile treatment: What is the evidence supporting a tapered vancomycin regimen?

-Answered by Andre Wilt, PharmD 2020 Graduate of UNMC College of Pharmacy (Reviewed by Scott Bergman PharmD and Andrew Watkins PharmD)

Sep 15, 2020

#PharmToExamTable: Treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection in adults: Guideline review

This month’s #PharmToExamTable question was a review of Clostridioides difficile treatment guidelines:
-Answered by Andre Wilt, PharmD 2020 Graduate of UNMC College of Pharmacy (Reviewed by Scott Bergman PharmD and Andrew Watkins PharmD)

Sep 8, 2020

Fighting Fear in COVID-19

As we have lived through this pandemic as Infectious Diseases physicians and leaders in Infection Control and Employee Health, we also have encountered nearly unprecedented fear within our workplace.

Jul 7, 2020

Journal Club: Should vancomycin be given as prophylaxis for Clostridioides difficile infections?

The following is a review by one of our fellows, Dr. Randy McCreery, who at a recent journal club presented a paper by Johnson, et al.: Effectiveness of Oral Vancomycin for Prevention of Healthcare Facility-Onset Clostridioides difficile Infection in Targeted Patients During Systemic Antibiotic Exposure, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 28 September 2019. In addition, Drs. McCreery, Cawcutt, […]

Mar 10, 2020

Introducing AMDA UTI Consensus Statement for Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Urinary Tract Infections

The AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long Term-Care Medicine convened a UTI consensus statement workgroup in 2017 to outline best practices for the management of UTI in post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) settings. The workgroup consisted of various national and international subject matter experts and was chaired by UNMC faculty Dr. Muhammad Salman Ashraf, who […]

Feb 18, 2020

Novel Coronavirus – What You Need to Know Now

Content courtesy of Dr. Angela Hewlett Coronaviruses are common respiratory pathogens, and generally cause mild symptoms of the ‘common cold’.  However, other coronavirus strains have been known to cause outbreaks that lead to more severe disease like pneumonia, and even death.  Examples of these include SARS and MERS, which are both coronaviruses with mortality rates […]

Jan 23, 2020