Using fecal transplants to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile infections (CDI)
Author – Clifford McDonald MD Prevention and Response Branch Chief CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion Transplanting feces from one human to another may sound repulsive, but for patients suffering from recurrent, debilitating diarrhea ca…
‘Tis the season for norovirus sharing
Authors Tara MacCannell, PhD [1], Ben Lopman, PhD [2] [1] Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [2] Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Winter is prime time for norovirus…
Risky pen pals
Author – Michael R. Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD, FASHP President, Institute for Safe Medication Practices There’s an alarming and widespread misunderstanding about insulin pens by some healthcare workers who work in hospitals: that sterility can be maintai…
Parents Everywhere – Keep Medicines Up and Away
Author – Emily Skor Vice President, Communications and Alliance Development, Consumer Healthcare Products Association Nothing is more important for a parent than their children’s safety and well-being. As a mother of two young children, I know that w…
Keeping Children Safe when Visitors Arrive – A message from family doctors
Author – Glen R. Stream, M.D., MBI, FAAFP President, American Academy of Family Physicians With the holidays — and related family gatherings — quickly approaching, now is a perfect time to talk about keeping medications Up and Away and Out of Sig…
Three Words for Poison Prevention: Click, Up, and Away
CLICK! That’s the sound you often hear when you close the child-resistant cap on a medicine bottle. Imagine this scenario: It’s the middle of the night and your sick child needs a dose of fever reducing medicine. You’re only half awake and caring…
Call Your Poison Center When the Unthinkable Happens
Author: Robert J. Geller, M.D. Georgia Poison Center; American Association of Poison Control Centers It’s a moment of sheer panic. You find your child chewing something and holding an open bottle of medicine. You don’t know how much, if any, medici…
Keeping Medicines Up and Away and Out of Sight of Toddlers
Author – Dr. Dan Budnitz Today, CDC announced the launch of an exciting new education program for protecting children from unintentional medication overdoses – Up and Away and Out of Sight. We’ve blogged about the large number of children who e…
Antibiotic Misuse Continues to Threaten Effectiveness by Increasing Resistance
Author – Sara Cosgrove, MD, MS Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Antibiotic resistance isn’t a scare tactic or a doomsday scenario; it’s a real and present danger confronting hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the world. Fro…
Antibiotic use in the United States: where do we stand?
Author – Ramanan Laxminarayan, Ph.D., director of Extending the Cure (ETC) Patients in the United States are among the most intensive users of antibiotics in the world, but you may be surprised to learn that overall per capita outpatient antibiotic p…
California Initiative Promotes Appropriate Use of Antimicrobials in Healthcare Facilities
Author – Dr. Trivedi, California Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Initiative, California Department of Public Health. In February 2010, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) launched the country’s first statewide initiative to promote …
Using Antibiotics Wisely in Long Term Care Settings
AMDA – Dedicated to Long Term Care Many of us have or will have loved ones in long term care facilities. These healthcare settings are critical to providing healthcare and everyday assistance to people with chronic illnesses or disabilities, who othe…
NY State collaborative – a groundbreaking Antimicrobial Stewardship Project for hospitals and long-term care
Author – David P. Calfee, MD, MS Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College, Chief Hospital Epidemiologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell in New York City The GNYHA, UHF, and NYSDOH Antimicrobi…
Time to rethink antibiotic use in long-term care facilities
Author — Nimalie Stone, M.D. Medical Epidemiologist CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion With increasing drug-resistant bacteria and complicating conditions from antibiotic use like diarrhea from C. difficile on the rise, we must look at …
Government Takes Action to Combat Antibiotic Resistance
Author – Steve Solomon, MD Director of the Office of Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Office of Infectious Diseases, CDC. Antimicrobial resistance is a …