This article provides a thorough interpretation of the recommendations for implementation research in healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention and control, jointly issued by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. The recommendations elaborate on the concepts, strategies, determinants, and evaluation methods of implementation research, as well as the commonly used theories, models, and frameworks (TMF) in the field of HAI prevention and control. By expounding on these TMF, this article aims to guide readers in deeply considering the scientific issues related to the implementation of hospital infection prevention and control, and to provide guidance on selecting and applying appropriate resources in specific environments and situations. The release of these recommendations aims to promote the implementation of evidence-based guidelines in medical institutions and ultimately achieve the goal of reducing the incidence of hospital infections by promoting and guiding the conduct of implementation research in the field of HAI prevention and control.
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.
Electronic skin has shown great application potential in many fields such as healthcare monitoring and human-machine interaction due to their excellent sensing performance, mechanical properties and biocompatibility. This paper starts from the materials selection and structures design of electronic skin, and summarizes their different applications in the field of healthcare equipment, especially current development status of wearable sensors with different functions, as well as the application of electronic skin in virtual reality. The challenges of electronic skin in the field of wearable devices and healthcare, as well as our corresponding strategies, are discussed to provide a reference for further advancing the research of electronic skin.
Objective To investigate the situation and related factors of influenza vaccination among healthcare workers in Sichuan, and provide a basis for the formulation of the strategy of influenza vaccination. Methods From August 1st to August 6th, 2022, healthcare workers from 21 prefectures and cities in Sichuan province were selected by the hospital infection quality control centers to conduct an online questionnaire survey for status and related factors of influenza vaccination. Single factor analysis of vaccination rate was carried out by χ2 test, and the related factors of influenza vaccination were analyzed by binary multiple logistic regression model. Results A total of 3264 copies of questionnaires were distributed, and 3244 valid copies were recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 99.4%. The vaccination rate of influenza vaccine in the surveyed healthcare workers was 56.9% (1846/3244). The gender, age, professional title, position, department, hospital type, hospital nature, hospital level, influenza awareness, and influenza vaccination willingness were the factors resulting in statistically significant differences in influenza vaccination rate among healthcare workers (P<0.05). Binary multiple logistic regression indicated that age≥35 years old [odds ratio (OR)=0.799, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.681, 0.937), P=0.006], the educational background being bachelor degree or above [OR=1.221, 95%CI (1.036, 1.439), P=0.017], position [nurses vs. doctors: OR=1.339, 95%CI (1.112, 1.612), P=0.002; technicians vs. doctors: OR=1.849, 95%CI (1.278, 2.676), P=0.001], the hospital type being specialized hospital [OR=1.804, 95%CI (1.446, 2.251), P<0.001], hospital level [secondary vs. primary hospitals: OR=0.344, 95%CI (0.271, 0.437), P<0.001; tertiary vs. primary hospitals: OR=0.526, 95%CI (0.413, 0.671), P<0.001], influenza awareness [fair vs. poor: OR=1.262, 95%CI (1.057, 1.508), P=0.010; good vs. poor: OR=1.489, 95%CI (1.142, 1.940), P=0.003], vaccination willingness [OR=4.725, 95%CI (4.009, 5.569), P<0.001] were related factors of influenza vaccination in healthcare workers. The influenza awareness was good in 416 healthcare workers (12.8%), fair in 1989 (61.3%), and poor in 839 (25.9%). The correct rate of influenza vaccination frequency was the highest (82.7%), while the correct rate of influenza contraindication was the lowest (3.2%). Among the healthcare workers, 2206 (68.0%) were willing to be vaccinated, of whom 1548 (70.2%) believed that they could protect people with weak immune function around them after vaccination; 1038 were unwilling to be vaccinated with influenza vaccine in the near future, of whom 335 (32.3%) believed that they had strong immunity and did not need to be vaccinated. Conclusions The influenza vaccination rate of medical staff is related to a variety of factors. Strengthening the publicity and education, and encouraging hospitals to provide free influenza vaccination, especially the correct understanding of contraindications, may be helpful to improve the vaccination rate.
Objective To compare administration of incidence reporting systems for healthcare risk management in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Taiwan, and to provide evidence and recommendations for healthcare risk management policy in China. Methods We searched the official websites of the healthcare risk management agencies of the four countries and one district for laws, regulatory documents, research reports, reviews, and evaluation forms concerned with healthcare risk management and assessment. Descriptive comparative analysis was performed on relevant documents. Results (1) A total of 142 documents were included in this study. The United States had the most relevant documents (68). (2) The type of incidents from reporting systems has expanded from medication errors and hospital-acquired infections to near-misses, and now includes all patient safety incidents. (3) The incidence-reporting systems can be grouped into two models: government-led and legal/regulatory/NGO-collaborative. (4) In two cases, reporting systems were established for specific incident types: One for death or serious injury events (the sentinel events database in Britain, SIRL), and one for healthcare-associated infections (NHSN in America). (5) Compared to the four countries, Taiwan’s system put more emphasis on public welfare, confidentiality, and information sharing. The contents of reporting there covered every aspect of risk management to create a more secure environment. Conclusion (1) Britain’s national reporting and learning system was representative of a government-led model; (2) The United States was the earliest country to have a reporting system, which included a limited range of incident types. Management of incidents became more reliable with increased application of laws, regulations, and guidances; (3) Both the Canadian and the Australian systems drew from the American experience and are still developing; (4) The Taiwanese system was comprehensive and is an instructional case.
This paper expounds the classification and characteristics of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) surveillance systems from the perspective of the informatization needs of HAI monitoring, explains the determination requirements of numerator and denominator in the surveillance statistical data, and introduces the regular verification for auditing the quality of HAI surveillance. The basic knowledge of machine learning and its achievements are introduced in processing surveillance data as well. Machine learning may become the mainstream algorithm of HAI automatic monitoring system in the future. Infection control professionals should learn relevant knowledge, cooperate with computer engineers and data analysts to establish more effective, reasonable and accurate monitoring systems, and improve the outcomes of HAI prevention and control in medical institutions.
The purpose of evidence-based healthcare management is to prevent the overuse, underuse or misuse of some management measures, and to eliminate the gap between research and practice or the difference between best practices and conventional practices. Evidence-based healthcare management is still in an early stage of development. It also faces many challenges, which have aroused some criticism and even suspicion. This is closely related to the complexity of the management field itself and the lack of empirical research in the field. Considering the scarcity of high-quality health and medical resources in China, in order to improve the scientificalness of healthcare decision-making, we strongly appeal that promoting evidence-based healthcare management requires government-led, universal education, intensified research, scientific evaluation, technological innovation and integration.
Objective To set up healthcare device-technology deployment assessment model and procedures through establishing the assessment parameter system between the functions of the clinical technical requirements and devices. Methods The bidirectional assessment parameter system developed by the literature review and Delphi, then combination weighting calculated by the combination weighting method, and the proposals for function deployment performed on the cluster analysis. Results The positive coefficients of twice Delphi were 75.56% and 87.50%, respectively. The effective recovery rates of the questionnaire were higher. The structure of the bidirectional assessment parameter system acquired according to the data mining and review, Delphi and integrated analysis. We calculated the weighting for the required functions and the deployed functions of the ventilator in the ICU, ER and RR. We listed the absolute importance and rank. The proposals for the function deployment of the ventilator which met different needs in fields of the critical care medicine were produced by the cluster analysis, ranking absolute importance and the calibration of weighting based on the investigation for actual function utilized rate. Conclusion It studies healthcare device-technology deployment assessment model by sequential integrated methods and sets up bidirectional assessment parameter system based on clinical technical function requirement, and the result is effective.
Objective To use bibliometrics to identify research hotspots and emerging trends in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare-associated infections (HAI), as well as to offer a resource for more relevant research. Methods The literature on AI and HAI from the Science Citation Index Expanded database of the Web of Science Core Collection was retrieved through computer searches, covering the period from January 1, 1994, to January 22, 2024. VOSviewer (v1.6.19) and CiteSpace (v6.1. R6) software were utilized for bibliometric analysis, creating knowledge maps that include research cooperation networks and keyword analysis. Results A total of 305 documents were included, and both the number of early publications and the frequency of citations were at a very low level for a long time before showing an annual increase trend after 2018. The United States had the most published documents among the 50 countries/regions from where they were sourced. Harvard University was the scientific research institution with the most publications, while Professor Evans HL of the Medical University of South Carolina was the scholar with the most publications. Research on AI in the field of HAI primarily focused on three aspects: AI algorithms and technologies, monitoring and prediction of HAI, and the accuracy of HAI diagnosis and prediction. These findings were based on keyword co-occurrence and clustering analysis. Conclusions A new phase of AI research in the subject of HAI has begun. More in-depth research can be done in the future for the hot direction, as there is still a gap between China’s academic accomplishments in this subject and the advanced level of the world.
Objective To explore the impact of community healthcare workers’ (CHWs) knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on the influenza vaccination among elderly people. Methods By means of simple random sampling, 1 residential quarter of each communities, 2 communities of each districts, 5 districts of Chengdu city were randomly selected, and the elderly equal to or more than 60-year-old were on-site investigated. Meanwhile, the questionnaire survey was conducted among healthcare workers in the selected communities. Results There were 4 KAP factors played a positive role in influenza vaccination among elderly people: CHWs’ affirmation of the effectiveness of influenza vaccine, explicitly knowing the focus groups for influenza vaccination, recommendation of vaccination in flu season when the elderly visits, and participation in flu-related education activities. When the accuracy rate of each factor got improved by 1%, the influenza vaccination rate would improve by 2.747%, 1.299%, 0.864%, 0.602%, respectively. Conclusion The knowledge, attitude and practice of HCWs have impacts on the influenza vaccination rates of elderly people. They are significant to improve the influenza vaccination rates of the elderly.