Infection-control professionals

Health-care providers, clinical laboratory personnel, infection control professionals, and health departments play critical and complementary roles in recognizing and responding to illnesses caused by intentional release of biologic agents. The syndrome descriptions, epidemiologic clues, and laboratory recommendations in this report provide basic guidance that can be implemented immediately to improve recognition of these events. 

Infection control issues raised by these biological agents of concern raise serious threats to health care professionals, including clinical and laboratory personnel who may encounter patients or clinical specimens suspected of harboring highly lethal bacteria or viruses. 

Henning KJ, Layton M. Bioterrorism. In APIC Text of Infection Control and Epidemiology. Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology Inc. Washington, DC Chapter 124 1-11, 2000... 

Thus, laboratory studies have shown that the potential for cross-resistance between antiseptics and some antibiotics exists, prompting professional organizations to question the lack of proven benefit in infection control by antimicrobial-impregnated household products and the potential for the emergence of antiseptic-mediated resistance to useful antibiotics [48,49]. 

WA Rutala, DJ Weber. Overview of the use of chemical germicides in healthcare. In WA Rutala, ed. Disinfection, Sterilization and Antisepsis Principles and practices in Healthcare Facilities. Washington, DC Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc., 2000, pp. 1-15. 

The continuous evaluation of care practices under the supervision of the infection control staff can help ensure continued adherence to correct practices. The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidaniology publishes up-to-date articles and guidelines on healthcare infection control. 

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)... 

Possible trainers include a variety of healthcare professionals such as infection control practitioners, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, occupational health professionals, physician s assistants, and emergency medical technicians. 

Aires, S., Carvalho, A., Aires, E., Calado, E., Aragon, L, Oliveira, J., et al. (2010). Assessment of knowledge and attitudes about standard precautions—Infection Control for Health Professionals a Central University Hospital and Portuguese. 

Five types of safety-related behaviors have been defined by Davis et al. [7] continuous versus on-off proactive versus reactive interactive versus noninterac-tive confrontational versus nonconfrontational and behaviors to prevent errors of omission versus errors of commission. For example, a patient asking a health care professional to check that they have received the correct medication involves the patient asking a question to prevent a medication error. The action comprises the following characteristics continuous, proactive, interactive, confrontational, and preventing a potential error of commission. In this example, patient participation could be facilitated by encouragement to challenge the clinician s competence, and there is evidence in the context of medication safety and infection control that provides some support for this view [8]. 

Crucible combines years of safety professional experience with feature film direction. The company offers full-service production, from hazard assessments, content writing and directing to delivery in HD media formats. Whatever your need safety orientations, hospital infection control, data centers, maintenance procedures and targeted loss and hazards, Crucible creates training information customized for your locations and operations. Call for a free quote 800-318-7652 or visit www.cruciblesafety.com. 

The early success in malaria control can be attributed to the use of professional spray teams who treated the inside of huts with DDT, without any direct involvement of the infected population. However, the problem with pesticides like DDT is that they lack specificity, and as application is not always well directed there is often destruction of a wide range of insects, which may have undesirable side-effects. Further problems include the accumu-... 

A healthcare facility environmental services function plays a key role in controlling infections. Environmental services professionals must learn to clean for safety and health first and then clean for appearance. Many times, the important role that environmental services personnel play in keeping healthcare facilities safe is overlooked. Cleaning processes simply remove contaminants from the environment. The major tasks for environmental service workers include the following ... 

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