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Surveillance and Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections

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Adult Critical Care Medicine

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Abstract

Hospital-acquired infections can have a critical impact on our patients. Furthermore, together they make up a heavily weighted portion of most hospitals’ quality metrics. Though intensive care physicians are comfortable with making clinical diagnoses of various hospital-acquired infections, they are often not as comfortable with the complicated definitions that are used for surveillance and reporting purposed. Understanding these definitions and applying them consistently are critical when engaging in performance improvement. This chapter seeks to provide an overview of the surveillance definitions of hospital-acquired infections and of the most recent evidence-based measures for preventing these infections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University New Jersey School of Medicine, Newark, NJ, USA

    Christian A. Engell

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  1. Christian A. Engell
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Correspondence to Christian A. Engell .

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  1. Newark, NJ, USA

    Jennifer A. LaRosa

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Engell, C.A. (2019). Surveillance and Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections. In: LaRosa, J. (eds) Adult Critical Care Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94424-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94424-1_7

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