Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

8 INFECTION CONTROL Visiting physician's office after a flu patient raises risk of catching it, study finds By Erica Carbajal P atients who had an appointment at their physician's office aer a flu patient had visited the same practice were 31.8 per- cent more likely to catch the illness than unex- posed patients, according to research published in the August edition of Health Affairs. e study, led by researchers at the University of Minneapolis-based Minnesota School of Public Health and Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard University used all-payer insurance claims and EHR data from Athenahealth to identify patients who visited their primary care physician's office before and aer a flu patient had visited the same office. Exposed patients, or those who visited their physican's practice aer a flu patient, were nearly 32 percent more likely to return to the office with the flu within two weeks, compared to unexposed patients, or those who had an appointment before a flu patient. Researchers did not find a similar asso- ciation for exposure to noncontagious conditions such as urinary tract infection and back pain. "It's a widely accepted fact that patients can acquire infections in hospital settings, but we show that infection transmission can happen when you visit your doctor's office too," said Hannah Neprash, PhD, study author and assistant professor at the University of Minne- sota's School of Public Health. "Our findings highlight the importance of infection control practices and continued access to telemedi- cine services, as healthcare begins to return to pre-pandemic patterns. "In-person outpatient care for influenza may promote nontrivial transmission of these vi- ruses. is may be true for other endemic re- spiratory illnesses too, including COVID-19, but more research is needed." Researchers believe it's the first study to eval- uate the link between influenza and a patient's visit timing among a national sample. n Patients who ride ambulance more likely to get superbug infection, study suggests By Erica Carbajal P atients who arrive at the hospital via an ambulance are more likely to develop superbug colonization or infection, according to findings published July 21 in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. Researchers from Durham, N.C.-based Duke University conducted a retrospective anal- ysis of emergency department patients from 2016-19. They compared the relative risk of developing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA, or vanco- mycin-resistant Enterococcus, known as VRE, between those who took an ambulance to those who took a private vehicle. A total of 11,325 patients were included: 3,903 who arrived via ambulance and 7,421 who did not. Within 30 days, nine patients developed MRSA and three had VRE. Of those, eight infections occurred among patients in the ambulance group, while four occurred in the other study cohort. Overall, emergency department patients who arrived via ambulance were four times more likely to have an infection within 30 days of transport. "Our cohort study is the first to demonstrate an association between ambulance exposure and pathogen incidence, representing the first step in evaluating medical transport-associated infection burden to eventually develop interventions to address it," researchers said. n OSHA cites 2 New Jersey providers over mask protocols By Morgan Haefner T wo providers in New Jersey were cited by the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration after an investi- gation determined they didn't ensure nurses safely used res- pirators while administering flu shots and COVID-19 tests. Medical facility Lakewood Resource and Referral Center and temporary staffing agency Homecare Therapies "failed to protect vital frontline health- care workers from exposure to the coronavirus," Paula Dixon-Roderick, OSHA area office director, said in an Aug. 4 news release. OSHA began investigating Lakewood Resource and Refer- ral Center in January and found the center didn't provide med- ical evaluations to determine if employees could appropriately use respirators before requiring their use. The center didn't fit test employees for respirators either, according OSHA, which levied a $273,064 fine against the organization. Investigators reported similar findings against Homecare Therapies, which contracted with Lakewood Resource and Referral Center. OSHA fined the staffing agency $13,653. The organizations can contest the findings. The citations come as OSHA is increasing focus on providers' compliance with COVID-19 workplace safety rules. The rules, released June 10, require healthcare employers give workers paid time off to get vaccinated and to recover from any side effects. n

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