A shortage of N95 masks in 2020 led the CDC to craft guidelines for healthcare workers who needed to reuse them for multiple shifts, but a new study, published Jan. 26 in JAMA, has found reuse of these masks can hurt their efficacy.

Kevin Tracey, MD, was trained as a neurosurgeon. In 1985, at what was then New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center, an 11-month-old girl was brought in with severe burns after a boiling pot of spaghetti water splashed onto her skin. After a month of fighting, she died in Dr. Tracey's arms. He didn't know it then, but the moment would define his life's work researching sepsis.

Many health systems made the strategic choice to suspend elective surgeries during the pandemic, reallocating resources to address the public health crisis. However, in recent months, certain facilities have been forced to pause surgeries for a different, unforeseen reason. 

Efforts to standardize quality and safety practices systemwide are paying off for West Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health, with the system achieving a 40% reduction in central line infections last year.

A new strain of multidrug resistant Pseudocitrobacter bacteria has been identified by researchers. The novel strain was resistant to seven different classes of antibiotics, according to the data, published Jan. 17 in The Journal of Hospital Infection.

State officials have cited Penn Medicine's Lancaster (Pa.) General Hospital for several health code violations, including failure to ensure sterilization equipment was available for surgeries.

 As the Biden administration calls on hospitals to do more to reduce sepsis deaths, Henry Ford Health in Jackson, Mich., has started involving its emergency department nurses more in detection practices, the American Medical Association reported Jan. 11.

Even after adhering to disinfection routines to a tee, pathogenic bacteria is still detectable on high-touch surfaces in hospitals, new research published Jan. 10 in the American Journal of Infection Control found.

The Joint Commission has added new and revised standing requirements for accreditation of both critical access hospitals and hospitals for infection control procedures, the organization announced Jan. 10.

Hospitals lost significant progress in reducing healthcare-associated infections amid the pandemic, but many organizations are starting to see improvements, according to a LinkedIn poll conducted by Becker's. 

The FDA now recognizes vaporized hydrogen peroxide as an established sterilization method for medical devices, according to a Jan. 8 update. 

The CDC is calling for improved donor screening and culture-based testing of donor organs and tissues after the second outbreak of tuberculosis in transplant cases.

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology has launched a staffing calculator tool to support infection prevention and control leaders in making decisions around staffing and resource allocation. 

Northwell Health, Henry Ford Health and Corewell Health are making strides in reducing sepsis deaths through one key factor: accountability. 

New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health has cut its sepsis infection rates in half amid mounting pressures from the Biden administration for U.S. hospitals to do more to reduce sepsis deaths — which account for about 270,000 deaths annually.

When patients are colonized with Candida auris, contamination of their surrounding environments can happen within just a few hours, according to the results of a new study. 

More health systems have implemented mask rules in recent weeks amid an uptick in respiratory virus activity and growing concerns over potential capacity issues this winter.

The simple act of tooth brushing at least once per day can lower a patient's risk of getting infected with hospital-acquired pneumonia, according to a study published Dec. 18 in JAMA.

As antibiotic resistance grows, so does research toward preventing and treating Clostridioides difficile, a bacterium known to be one of the leading causes of healthcare-associated infections in U.S. patients that can sometimes turn fatal. Often, infections from it occur while a patient is on antibiotics or shortly after they have finished a course. 

Patients staying in a hospital bed previously occupied by a patient with a Clostridium difficile infection have a higher risk of contracting one themselves, according to new research published Dec. 13 in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.