INFECTION
CONTROL
&
PATIENT
SAFETY
31
7.
5.
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
Of the 70 percent of hospitals and health
systems who have added programs, 35 percent
did so within the past two years.
Half of respondents said they lack staff
resources to identify or implement stewardship
interventions.
While most respondents said they track
antibiotic utilization, costs and resistance, 37
percent report not having data to measure
the overall impact of their ASPs on patient
outcomes.
Of respondents, 18 percent reported a lack of
data collection, either manual or electronic, on
how many antibiotics their hospital uses. For
smaller hospitals this number increases to 27
percent.
Nearly 20 percent of respondents had no formal
program to reduce antibiotic or misuse.
Challenges are greater for smaller hospitals:
Only 26 percent of those with 300 beds or fewer
report having a formal ASP compared to 11
percent for larger hospitals.
Of institutions that report having formal
ASPs, 65 percent do not require prescribing
providers or treatment teams to formally review
the prescription aer diagnostic information
becomes available.
Researchers Discover Way
to Treat Wound Infections
Without Antibiotics
By Shannon Barnet
N
ew research from Washington State
University in Pullman suggests electrical
stimulation may be a viable alternative
to antibiotics to treat wounds infected with
bacteria.
The researchers passed an electric current
over a film of bacteria and found it killed nearly
all infection-related multi-drug resistant bacteria
over 24 hours. After using this technique, the
remaining bacterial population was one ten-
thousandth its original size.
The study also included using electrical
stimulation on pig tissue. Doing so killed most
of the bacteria without damaging surrounding
tissue.
"Many people tried this simple method,"
said Haluk Beyenal, PhD, co-author of the paper
and a WSU professor in microbiology and
biofilms. "Sometimes it worked, and sometimes
it didn't. We controlled the electrochemical
reactions. That's the reason it works."
BECKER'S
7
th
Annual
Meeting
Register
at
www.beckershospitalreview.com/
conference/
April
27-30,
2016
|
Hyatt
Regency,
Chicago
2016
208
Hospital
&
Health
System
Executive
Speakers
