is ,” he said . “ A lot of what we call an aerosol-generating procedure was based on studies done from the time of the first SARS outbreak in 2003 , and when you read summary articles from those studies , they all indicate it ’ s poor-quality evidence . I ’ m hoping we get much better data soon .”
Finally , Gauthier emphasized the importance of recognizing who among the patient population is a susceptible host . “ We know it ’ s the young and the old , we know it ’ s the immunocompromised . What I found interesting when we first had discussions with focus groups on the targeted moments and I would ask infection control professionals , ‘ What area of your hospital do you think extra wiping would help you ?” I expected to hear answers like the bone marrow transplant unit , the burn unit , the intensive care units , etc ., and I did hear that . They know the areas where you must be very careful . But the point is , we must pay attention to the practices we know can help protect all patients everywhere . Nothing should change based on the presence of a certain microbe ; instead , we need to keep our precautions and practices very horizontal and work consistently all the time ; never give staff a crutch where they think , ‘ Oh , they put up a sign , now I have to do something different .’ It ’ s a concept that needs more traction because people like their bugs and those of you who conduct surveillance are thinking , ‘ But what do I do if I have to keep track of how many MDROs we ’ ve had because my infectious disease docs want to know ?’
With apologies to infectious disease docs , resistant organisms or carbapenemase-producing microorganisms are important , but I don ’ t think we should panic over the ‘ acronym ’ bugs . Remind your staff to consistently apply precautions and engage in evidence-based best practices all of the time . Remind them if they have a patient that doesn ’ t have any skin , feces or mucous membranes and you ’ re just working with a skeleton in the bed , fine , do what you want , but generally speaking , there ’ s a potential for infection in front of you every time , otherwise . And we need to get better at worrying about that .”
References :
Almatroudi A , et al . A new dry-surface biofilm model : an essential tool for efficacy testing of hospital surface decontamination procedures . J Microbiol Methods . 2015 .
Chowdhury D and Tahir S , et al . Transfer of dry surface biofilm in the healthcare environment : the role of healthcare workers ’ hands as vehicles . J Hosp Infect . 28 Jun 2018 , 100 ( 3 ): e85-e90 . DOI : 10.1016 / j . jhin . 2018.06.021 PMID : 29964099
Nkemngong CA , et al . A rapid model for developing dry surface biofilms of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa for in vitro disinfectant efficacy testing . Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control . Vol . 9 , article number 134 . Aug . 17 , 2020 .
Parvin F , Hu H , et al . Difficulty in removing biofilm from dry surfaces . J Hosp Infect . 2019 Dec ; 103 ( 4 ): 465-467 . doi : 10.1016 / j . jhin . 2019.07.005 . Epub July 4 , 2019 . PMID : 31279761 DOI : 10.1016 / j . jhin . 2019.07.005
Wenzel RP and Edmond MB . Infection control : the case for horizontal rather than vertical interventional programs . Int J Infect Dis . 2010 Oct ; 14 Suppl 4 : S3-5 . doi : 10.1016 / j . ijid . 2010.05.002 . Epub Sept . 18 , 2010 . PMID : 20851010 DOI : 10.1016 / j . ijid . 2010.05.002
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