Pathogens on the Hands of Hospitalized Patients

Hand hygiene is recognized as the most important measure to prevent the transmission of infection. Despite evidence that infections can be transferred from contact with a patient’s skin or the environment, little research has been directed toward patient-centered hand hygiene. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between patient characteristics and the presence of pathogens on patients’ hands. This cross-sectional, observational study collected bacterial samples and demographic data from 22 adult medical-surgical patients at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center East. Bacteria were collected using glove juice sampling procedures. Samples were then serially diluted, plated, and incubated. Aerobic colonies were counted using standard counting procedures and were statistically analyzed. Pathogen specific confirmation was performed using appropriate confirmatory tests, such as gram staining and selective media. Patient demographic data, such as sex, age, ethnicity, length of stay, admitting diagnosis, and isolation precautions, were abstracted from the electronic health record. The relationship between patient data and bacterial presence was analyzed using chi-squared tests. Results show that 86% (19/22) of patients were positive for S. aureus, 36% (8/22) were positive for MRSA, 86% (19/22) were positive for C. difficile, 24% (5/21) were positive for C. difficile using UV light analysis, and 30% (4/13) were positive for VRE. The average number of colony forming units per mL of solution was 8.59 x 102. An increased length of stay was not associated with an increased bacterial load. There was no relationship between infectious diagnosis or isolation precautions and bacterial load. A lack of association between patient characteristics and bacterial load may be due to a lack of long-term follow-up with patients and a small sample size. The results of this study suggest that a high percentage of patients’ hands are positive for infectious organisms such as S. aureus, MRSA, C. difficile, and/or VRE. Patient hand hygiene protocols could decrease the transmission of infection, resulting in better patient outcomes and a decrease in healthcare costs.  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholarship ProgramNo embargoAcademic Major: Nursin

U.S. State Employee Pension Systems: An Investigation into the Causes of Unfunded Liabilities

Defined benefit retirement plans for state employees have come under fire, both financially and politically, following recent market volatility and subsequent losses in pension investments. Asset losses matched with liabilities that are set years in advance translate to pressures on state policymakers and plan administrators to either find ways to improve the finances of these pension systems or transition to defined contribution plans that put the financial risk on individual employees rather than the state government. Because most states are legally and contractually obligated to pay retiree benefits regardless of the pension system’s financial condition — even to the point of paying benefits out of their general funds — this looming threat could be borne not just by public service retirees, but by those who receive the benefits of public schools, social services, and other important public programs. Defined benefit plans gain funding from three sources: employee contributions, employer (state government) contributions, and earnings on investments. While the first is largely unchangeable for current workers, the latter two come under constant scrutiny. This research seeks to investigate the role these two funding sources have played in various state pension plans’ financial conditions. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, and the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College for Fiscal Years 2001-2008, this report evaluated three aspects of plan funding: 1) employer contributions relative to actuarial recommendations, 2) investment returns, and 3) asset allocation decisions. This was done by both simple time-trend analysis and regression analysis. This research suggests that while there is little connection between broad asset class allocation and pension plan investment returns, and little connection between investment returns and the overall financial condition of individual pension systems, two factors may play a role in pension plan finances. First, there is a small but distinct difference in asset allocation decisions between states that had financially sound pension systems for state retirees at the end of Fiscal Year 2008, and those that did not. Better-funded plans tended to place a larger share of their investments in cash and stocks, and a smaller amount in bonds and alternative investments. Second, states that regularly contributed the full amount recommended by plan actuaries were more likely to have financially sound pension systems. Although these results are not conclusive, they suggest that further research in this area may prove instructive to policymakers

The Communally Focused Writing Center

Can writing center administrators prepare student tutors to help transform faculty-student relations? Should they

The rheology of dense, polydisperse granular fluids under shear

The solution of the Enskog equation for the one-body velocity distribution of a moderately dense, arbitrary mixture of inelastic hard spheres undergoing planar shear flow is described. A generalization of the Grad moment method, implemented by means of a novel generating function technique, is used so as to avoid any assumptions concerning the size of the shear rate. The result is illustrated by using it to calculate the pressure, normal stresses and shear viscosity of a model polydisperse granular fluid in which grain size, mass and coefficient of restitution varies amoungst the grains. The results are compared to a numerical solution of the Enskog equation as well as molecular dynamics simulations. Most bulk properties are well described by the Enskog theory and it is shown that the generalized moment method is more accurate than the simple (Grad) moment method. However, the description of the distribution of temperatures in the mixture predicted by Enskog theory does not compare well to simulation, even at relatively modest densities.Comment: 8 postscript figures Replaced with new version correcting an error in the SME calculations and misc. small corrections. Second replacement with final correction of SME calculation

Policy and Practice: The Influence of Participation in the Vote Smart Challenge on Teacher Credential Candidates

This Roundtable Session allows participants to explore how teacher credential candidates may increase their knowledge of policy as it affects their profession, specifically through participation in the Vote Smart Challenge

Introduction

This issue of Indiana Libraries is sponsored by INDIGO, Indiana Networking for Documents and Information of Government Organizations. INDIGO’s goals are to provide a forum for the discussion and exchange of ideas, to provide programs to increase the availability, use, and bibliographic control of government information, and to provide a voice for Indiana’s federal and state depositories concerning government information issues. INDIGO’s members include the state’s specialists in local, state, federal and international government information (see the Indiana Federal Depository Libraries Directory included in this issue). Some of these specialists have contributed articles for this issue of Indiana Libraries. The United States government is the largest print and electronic publisher in the world and locating specific items within this vast historical print and current electronic collection can be overwhelming. In this issue of Indiana Libraries Sylvia Andrews and Heather Smedberg provide guides to information concerning native Americans, Bert Chapman highlights national security policy documents, Lou Malcomb and Mardi Mahaffy locate maps of Indiana buried in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, Elaine Skopelja identifies documents and Web sites for health and medicine, and Linda R. Zellmer provides government information on the environment and natural sciences. With the move to migrate from print to electronic publishing a wealth of government publications are now available free on the Internet. Any library can learn how to add electronic government documents to their online catalog and/or download and enhance a Web page template of basic government documents resources using the startup kit in this issue. This issue also includes articles by Andrea Singer on locating foreign documents and Daina Bohr on the processing of federal documents

U.S. Government Electronic Information Resources: A Start-Up Kit for Small and Medium-Sized Libraries

The U.S. Government is the largest producer of information in the world. Through its agencies it creates, gathers, and produces information on topics from the arts to the sciences and for all types of library users –children to senior citizens. Since 1858 the Federal Depository Library Program (F.D.L.P.) has been responsible for collecting, organizing, maintaining, preserving, and providing information from the federal government. Congressionally- designated libraries (up to two per congressional district) receive selected classes of government resources at no cost, and in return are obligated to provide open and free access to this material. These include some of the most useful reference sources at the information desk – the Occupational Outlook Handbook, Statistical Abstract of the United States, and the World Factbook. While depository libraries receive these items free, non-depository libraries have had to purchase these materials from the Government Printing Office (G.P.O.) or a repackaged version from a commercial publisher