With the continuous development of medical technology, ambulatory surgery or day surgery is becoming a new and very efficient medical service model in China. However, infection prevention and control in ambulatory surgery center has not yet attracted the attention of infection control practitioners. This paper analyzes the necessity, status quo, and entry point of infection prevention and control work in ambulatory surgery centers. Recommendations in the field of risk assessment, engineering control, behavior management, surveillance, and antimicrobial stewardship are provided to infection control practitioners as well.
Healthcare-associated infection outbreaks are a serious threat to patient safety and often cause serious consequences. The use of genotyping methods to identify the source of infection and the route of transmission in outbreaks is a critical point in controlling outbreaks. Recently, the use of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) makes it faster and much more accurate. Compared with traditional methods, WGS can distinguish highly correlated pathogen lineages, track infection source accurately and help researchers understanding the propagation dynamics model, and even provide more target intervention information. The application of WGS technology in healthcare-associated infection outbreak investigation and control is reviewed in this paper, and its advantages and challenges are also evaluated.
There is a worldwide consensus that urgent action is needed to prevent and control multi-drug resistant organisms in health care settings, especially carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) and carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPsA). In 2017, to focus on this topic, World Health Organization organized experts worldwide to develop guidelines for the prevention and control of CRE, CRPsA and CRAB. In this paper, we introduced the background, development process, main measures, advantages and disadvantages of the guidelines to help infection prevention and control practitioners take actions properly based on the guidelines.
After more than 30 years of localized development of infection prevention and control in China, a prevention and control system in line with China’s conditions has been established. Since the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic began, with the unprecedented attention paid to healthcare associated infection by health administrative departments at all levels, the awareness of infection prevention and control of various personnel has been continuously strengthened, which has promoted the cross-integration and development of infection prevention and control-related disciplines. However, under the normalized pandemic prevention and control, infection prevention and control work also faces enormous pressure and challenges. This paper summarizes the opportunities for infection prevention and control in the new era, analyzes the current challenges in the field of infection prevention and control, and aims to provide some ideas for the future development of infection prevention and control.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is one of the important pathogens of healthcare-associated infections. In order to prevent and control the transmission of the drug-resistant organism in healthcare facilities, the Healthcare Infection Society and the Infection Prevention Society jointly conducted the guidelines for the prevention and control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in 2021. This article introduces the guide from the background, preparation process, main prevention and control measures and further studies, and compares the guidelines with the current prevention and control measures in China, so as to provide a methodological reference for preparation of the guide for domestic infection prevention and control practitioners, and provide evidence-based prevention and control strategies for clinical practice.