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      epic2: National Evidence-Based Guidelines for Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections in NHS Hospitals in England

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          Executive Summary

          National evidence-based guidelines for preventing healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England were commissioned by the Department of Health (DH) and developed during 1998-2000 by a nurse-led multi-professional team of researchers and specialist clinicians. Following extensive consultation, they were published in January 2001. 1 These guidelines describe the precautions healthcare workers should take in three areas: standard principles for preventing HCAI, which include hospital environmental hygiene, hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment, and the safe use and disposal of sharps; preventing infections associated with the use of short-term indwelling urethral catheters; and preventing infections associated with central venous catheters.

          The evidence for these guidelines was identified by multiple systematic reviews of experimental and non-experimental research and expert opinion as reflected in systematically identified professional, national and international guidelines, which were formally assessed by a validated appraisal process. In 2003, we developed complementary national guidelines for preventing HCAI in primary and community care on behalf of the National Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Supportive Care (National Institute for Healthand Clinical Excellence). 2

          A cardinal feature of evidence-based guidelines is that they are subject to timely review in order that new research evidence and technological advances can be identified, appraised and, if shown to be effective in preventing HCAI, incorporated into amended guidelines. Periodically updating the evidence base and guideline recommendations is essential in order to maintain their validity and authority. Consequently, the DH commissioned a review of new evidence published following the last systematic reviews. We have now updated the evidence base for making infection prevention and control recommendations. A critical assessment of the updated evidence indicated that the original epic guidelines published in 2001 remain robust, relevant and appropriate but that adjustments need to be made to some guideline recommendations following a synopsis of the evidence underpinning the guidelines.

          These updated national guidelines (epic2) provide comprehensive recommendations for preventing HCAI in hospitals and other acute care settings based on the best currently available evidence. Because this is not always the best possible evidence, we have included a suggested agenda for further research in each section of the guidelines. National evidence-based guidelines are broad principles of best practice which need to be integrated into local practice guidelines. To monitor implementation, we have suggested key audit criteria for each section of recommendations.

          Clinically effective infection prevention and control practice is an essential feature of protecting patients. By incorporating these guidelines into routine daily clinical practice, patient safety can be enhanced and the risk of patients acquiring an infection during episodes of healthcare in NHS hospitals in England can be minimised.

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          Most cited references262

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          Effectiveness of a hospital-wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene

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            Complications of femoral and subclavian venous catheterization in critically ill patients: a randomized controlled trial.

            Whether venous catheterization at the femoral site is associated with an increased risk of complications compared with that at the subclavian site is debated. To compare mechanical, infectious, and thrombotic complications of femoral and subclavian venous catheterization. Concealed, randomized controlled clinical trial conducted between December 1997 and July 2000 at 8 intensive care units (ICUs) in France. Two hundred eighty-nine adult patients receiving a first central venous catheter. Patients were randomly assigned to undergo central venous catheterization at the femoral site (n = 145) or subclavian site (n = 144). Rate and severity of mechanical, infectious, and thrombotic complications, compared by catheterization site in 289, 270, and 223 patients, respectively. Femoral catheterization was associated with a higher incidence rate of overall infectious complications (19.8% vs 4.5%; P<.001; incidence density of 20 vs 3.7 per 1000 catheter-days) and of major infectious complications (clinical sepsis with or without bloodstream infection, 4.4% vs 1.5%; P =.07; incidence density of 4.5 vs 1.2 per 1000 catheter-days), as well as of overall thrombotic complications (21.5% vs 1.9%; P<.001) and complete thrombosis of the vessel (6% vs 0%; P =.01); rates of overall and major mechanical complications were similar between the 2 groups (17.3% vs 18.8 %; P =.74 and 1.4% vs 2.8%; P =.44, respectively). Risk factors for mechanical complications were duration of insertion (odds ratio [OR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.08 per additional minute; P<.001); insertion in 2 of the centers (OR, 4.52; 95% CI, 1.81-11.23; P =.001); and insertion during the night (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.04-4.08; P =.03). The only factor associated with infectious complications was femoral catheterization (hazard ratio [HR], 4.83; 95% CI, 1.96-11.93; P<.001); antibiotic administration via the catheter decreased risk of infectious complications (HR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.18-0.93; P =.03). Femoral catheterization was the only risk factor for thrombotic complications (OR, 14.42; 95% CI, 3.33-62.57; P<.001). Femoral venous catheterization is associated with a greater risk of infectious and thrombotic complications than subclavian catheterization in ICU patients.
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              Environmental contamination due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: possible infection control implications.

              To study the possible role of contaminated environmental surfaces as a reservoir of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hospitals. A prospective culture survey of inanimate objects in the rooms of patients with MRSA. A 200-bed university-affiliated teaching hospital. Thirty-eight consecutive patients colonized or infected with MRSA. Patients represented endemic MRSA cases. Ninety-six (27%) of 350 surfaces sampled in the rooms of affected patients were contaminated with MRSA. When patients had MRSA in a wound or urine, 36% of surfaces were contaminated. In contrast, when MRSA was isolated from other body sites, only 6% of surfaces were contaminated (odds ratio, 8.8; 95% confidence interval, 3.7-25.5; P < .0001). Environmental contamination occurred in the rooms of 73% of infected patients and 69% of colonized patients. Frequently contaminated objects included the floor, bed linens, the patient's gown, overbed tables, and blood pressure cuffs. Sixty-five percent of nurses who had performed morning patient-care activities on patients with MRSA in a wound or urine contaminated their nursing uniforms or gowns with MRSA. Forty-two percent of personnel who had no direct contact with such patients, but had touched contaminated surfaces, contaminated their gloves with MRSA. We concluded that inanimate surfaces near affected patients commonly become contaminated with MRSA and that the frequency of contamination is affected by the body site at which patients are colonized or infected. That personnel may contaminate their gloves (or possibly their hands) by touching such surfaces suggests that contaminated environmental surfaces may serve as a reservoir of MRSA in hospitals.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                J Hosp Infect
                J. Hosp. Infect
                The Journal of Hospital Infection
                The Hospital Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
                0195-6701
                1532-2939
                16 February 2007
                February 2007
                16 February 2007
                : 65
                : S1-S59
                Affiliations
                [a ]Richard Wells Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Thames Valley University (London)
                [b ]Department of Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance, Centre for Infections, Health Protection Agency (London)
                [c ]Microbiology and Infection Control, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Leeds
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author: Professor Robert J. Pratt, Director, Richard Wells Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Thames Valley University, 32-38 Uxbridge Road, London W5 2BS. Telephone: +44 (0)20 8280 5142 robert.pratt@ 123456tvu.ac.uk
                Article
                S0195-6701(07)60002-4
                10.1016/S0195-6701(07)60002-4
                7134414
                17307562
                48bc6192-547c-4b3f-b606-ca7f2df52355
                Copyright © 2007 The Hospital Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

                Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

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                Infectious disease & Microbiology
                Infectious disease & Microbiology

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