Efficacy of a Washer-Disinfector in Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Pathogens from Surgical Instruments

This study was designed to test the efficacy of a washer-disinfector in eliminating selected healthcare-associated pathogens from surgical instruments. Our results showed that a washer-disinfector was extremely effective in eliminating microorganisms (>7-log 10 reduction), including vegetative and spore-forming bacteria, from experimentally contaminated instruments. The washer-disinfector remained effective in eliminating microorganisms in the absence of enzymatic cleaners and detergents. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(7):883–88

David Gergen, Arthur Miller, and Martin F. Nolan discuss, The Rights and Responsibilities of a Free Press at the Ford Hall Forum, audio recording and transcript

https://dc.suffolk.edu/fhf-av/1024/thumbnail.jp

Connections: A Journal of Public Education Advocacy - Fall 2004, Vol. 11, No. 1

ContentsPresident's Message: Wendy D. Puriefoy says we need a narrative that informs and inspires a new national movement to support high-quality public education for every child.Linda Darling-Hammond on our Confused Priorities: The Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education at Stanford University questions why our nation does not give education a priority.Bob Edgar on the Faith Community's Role in Education: The head of the National Council of Churches explains why the faith community needs to take a leadership role in education reform.Conversations: David Gergen, editor-at-large for US News and World Report and director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, leads a wide-ranging discussion on the need for a national education movement.Making It Happen: Patricia Albjerg Graham thinks it's about time our system of public education catches up to our expectations.ViewpointSarita Brown exposes Hispanic myths and the growing influence of this vital segment of the populationDavid Dodson wants all children to tap into the optimism and success that is America, and to have the tools and opportunities to do soRoger Wilkins talks about the power of education and the insidious impact of racism on the lives of black AmericansEnd Notes: Lee Kravitz reminds us that words have power and that strong messages move people to action

Rapid Hospital Room Decontamination Using Ultraviolet (UV) Light with a Nanostructured UV-Reflective Wall Coating

We tested the ability of an ultraviolet C (UV-C)–reflective wall coating to reduce the time necessary to decontaminate a room using a UV-C-emitting device (Tru-D SmartUVC). The reflective wall coating provided the following time reductions for decontamination: for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , from 25 minutes 13 seconds to 5 minutes 3 seconds ( P < .05), and for Clostridium difficile spores, from 43 minutes 42 seconds to minutes 24 seconds ( P < .05)

Understanding Anthropological Understanding: for a merological anthropology

In this paper I argue for a merological anthropology in which ideas of ‘partiality’ and ‘practical adequacy’ provide a way out of the impasse of relativism which is implied by post-modernism and the related abandonment of a concern with ‘truth’. Ideas such as ‘aptness’ and ‘faithfulness’ enable us to re-establish empirical foundations without having to espouse a simple realism which has been rightly criticised. Ideas taken from ethnomethodology, particularly the way we bootstrap from ‘practical adequacy’ to ‘warrants for confidence’ point to a merological anthropology in which we recognize that we do not and cannot know everything, but that we can have reasons for being confident in the little we know

Decontamination of Targeted Pathogens from Patient Rooms Using an Automated Ultraviolet-C-Emitting Device

Objective. To determine the effectiveness of an automated ultraviolet-C (UV-C) emitter against vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Clostridium difficile , and Acinetobacter spp. in patient rooms. Design. Prospective cohort study. Setting. Two tertiary care hospitals. Participants. Convenience sample of 39 patient rooms from which a patient infected or colonized with 1 of the 3 targeted pathogens had been discharged. Intervention. Environmental sites were cultured before and after use of an automated UV-C-emitting device in targeted rooms but before standard terminal room disinfection by environmental services. Results. In total, 142 samples were obtained from 27 rooms of patients who were colonized or infected with VRE, 77 samples were obtained from 10 rooms of patients with C. difficile infection, and 10 samples were obtained from 2 rooms of patients with infections due to Acinetobacter . Use of an automated UV-C-emitting device led to a significant decrease in the total number of colony-forming units (CFUs) of any type of organism (1.07 log 10 reduction; P < .0001), CFUs of target pathogens (1.35 log 10 reduction; P < .0001), VRE CFUs (1.68 log 10 reduction; P < .0001), and C. difficile CFUs (1.16 log 10 reduction; P < .0001). CFUs of Acinetobacter also decreased (1.71 log 10 reduction), but the trend was not statistically significant P = .25). CFUs were reduced at all 9 of the environmental sites tested. Reductions similarly occurred in direct and indirect line of sight. Conclusions. Our data confirm that automated UV-C-emitting devices can decrease the bioburden of important pathogens in real-world settings such as hospital rooms