Antibiotics are frequently prescribed inappropriately for acute respiratory infections in the outpatient setting. We report the implementation of a multifaceted outpatient antimicrobial stewardship initiative resulting in a 12.3% absolute reduction of antibiotic prescribing for acute bronchitis in primary care clinics receiving active interventions.

Time constraints have been suggested as a potential driver of antibiotic overuse for acute respiratory tract infections. In this cross-sectional analysis of national data from visits to offices and emergency departments, we identified no statistically significant association between antibiotic prescribing and the duration of visits for acute respiratory tract infections.

We reviewed the electronic health records of 1,419 inpatients with anterior nares (AN) and oropharynx (OP) MRSA PCR tests. Concordance was 96.5%. In discordant cases, AN negative–OP positive results increased detection of probable MRSA pneumonia by only 0.3%. A dual testing approach has limited utility in detecting MRSA pneumonia and increases resource utilization.

We estimated the annual bed days lost and economic burden of healthcare-associated infections to Singapore hospitals using Monte Carlo simulation. The mean (standard deviation) cost of a single healthcare-associated infection was S$1,809 (S$440) [or US$1,362 (US$331)]. This translated to annual lost bed days and economic burden of 55,978 (20,506) days and S$152.0 million (S$37.1 million) [or US$114.4 million (US$27.9 million)], respectively.

Of 10 surgeons interviewed in a descriptive qualitative study, 6 believed that surgical site infections are inevitable. Bundle adherence was felt to be more likely with strong evidence-based measures developed by surgical leaders. The intrinsic desire to excel was viewed as the main adherence motivator, rather than “pay-for-performance” models.

We surveyed infectious disease specialists about early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination preparedness. Almost all responding institutions rated their facility’s preparedness plan as either excellent or adequate. Vaccine hesitancy and concern about adverse reactions were the most commonly anticipated barriers to COVID-19 vaccination. Only 60% believed that COVID-19 vaccination should be mandatory.

Hand hygiene compliance decreased significantly when opportunities exceeded 30 per hour. At higher workloads, the number of healthcare worker types involved and the proportion of hand hygiene opportunities for which physicians and other healthcare workers were responsible increased. Thus, care complexity and risk to patients may both increase with workload.

We evaluated the robustness of sterilization technologies when spores and bacteria were placed on “dirty” instruments and overlaid with blood. The results illustrate that steam sterilization is the most effective sterilization technology with the largest margin of safety, followed by ethylene oxide and hydrogen peroxide gas plasma.

We conducted a retrospective chart review examining the demographics, clinical history, physical findings, and comorbidities of patients with influenza and patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Older patients, male patients, patients reporting fever, and patients with higher body mass indexes (BMIs) were more likely to have COVID-19 than influenza.

In this study, we compared the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) between clinical and nonclinical healthcare workers (HCWs) while adjusting for home ZIP codes. Clinical HCWs did not have a higher risk of COVID-19, but living in higher-risk ZIP codes was associated with increased infection rates. However, environmental services workers showed increased risk of COVID-19.

The supply of N95 respirators has been severely strained by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We used quantitative fit-testing to evaluate 16 participants and 45 respirators through up to 4 rounds of ultraviolet decontamination and clinical reuse. The mean fit-test failure rate was 29.7%, and the probability of failure increased through N95 reuse.