The incidence of EVD-related infections is high in our hospital, Gram-negative micro-organisms were the most frequent causal agents identified and length of time that the catheter was in place contributed to the infection rate.

BackgroundStudies on the implantation of care routines showed reduction on EVD catheter-related infections rates; however zero tolerance is difficult to be achieved. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of an educational intervention on the maximal reduction on rates of EVD-related infections.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe quasi-experimental (before-after intervention) study occurred in two phases: pre-intervention, from April 2007 to July 2008, and intervention, from August 2008 to July 2010. Patients were followed for 30 days after the removal of the EVD, and EVD-related infections were considered as only those with laboratorial confirmation in the CSF. Observations were made of the care of the EVD and compliance with Hygiene of the Hands (HH), a routine of care was drawn up, training was given, and intervention was made to reduce the time the EVD catheter remained in place.Resultsduring the study, 178 patients were submitted to 194 procedures, corresponding to 1217 EVD catheters-day. Gram-negative agents were identified in 71.4% of the infections during the pre-intervention period and in 60% during the intervention period. During the study, EVD-related infection rates were reduced from 9.5% to 4.8% per patient, from 8.8% to 4.4% per procedure, and the incidence density dropped from 14.0 to 6.9 infections per 1000 catheters-day (p = 0.027). The mortality reduced 12% (from 42% to 30%).Conclusions/SignificanceDuring one year after the fourth intervention, no microbiologically identified infection was documented. In light of these results, educational intervention proved to be a useful tool in reducing these rates and showed also impact on mortality.

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Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health threat. Integrated actions are necessary to reduce multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in healthcare settings, including antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention measures, and optimal environmental hygiene. We developed a project to improve hospital hygiene that involves 3 phases: (1) diagnostic, compounded by assessment of cleanliness and identification of barriers and facilitators for environment cleanliness improvement; (2) intervention, based on review of structure and processes followed by a training program focused on major weaknesses identified; and (3) evaluation, impact of the intervention assessment. Objectives: We performed group interviews to identify barriers and facilitators for improving environment cleanliness. Methods: The project was performed by the infection control team and the housekeeping manager in a 350-bed, private hospital located in the city of São Paulo (Brazil). Two group interviews were conducted, one involving supervisors and the other involving housekeeping cleaners. All professionals were invited to participate. A semistructured questionnaire was used to guide the discussion, which was compounded by the following topics: working process, availability of human and material resources, training on institutional norms and routines, perception regarding work conditions, and quality of cleanliness. Results: In total, 33 professionals attended the interviews: 12 were supervisors and 21 were housekeeping cleaners. The main facilitator identified was a good perception by the housekeeping team regarding the project. We identified several sets of barriers: (1) human resources, such as supervisor executing the cleaning, inadequate sizing of human resources in shifts, reduced scale on Sunday and holiday shifts, and lack of professional replacement for sick leave and vacation; (2) supplies and equipment, such as torn bed linen, insufficient mops, centralized and inadequate dilution of sanitizers causing delays and impacting quality of hygiene; (3) education, such as lack of training program perceived by supervisors (management) and housekeeping cleaners (basic procedures for cleaning) and knowledge regarding who cleans what; (4) motivation and relationships, such as supervisor perceptions that housekeeping cleaners are unmotivated, and this causes absenteeism. The team feels that they are disregarded by doctors, and they have relationship problems with nursing and hospital engineering staff. Also, they are afraid of being physically assaulted by coworkers. Finally, professionals reported the perception that the hospital is not clean enough and that this is related to the short time goals imposed on the staff. Conclusions: The main barriers identified were related to education strategies and management of human and material resources. The results will support the intervention phase.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

A higher degree of angiogenesis is associated with shortened survival in glioblastoma. Feasible morphometric parameters for analyzing vascular networks in brain tumors in clinical practice are lacking. We investigated whether the macrovascular network classified by the number of vessel-like structures (nVS) visible on three-dimensional T1-weighted contrast–enhanced (3D-T1CE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could improve survival prediction models for newly diagnosed glioblastoma based on clinical and other imaging features. Ninety-seven consecutive patients (62 men; mean age, 58 ± 15 years) with histologically proven glioblastoma underwent 1.5T-MRI, including anatomical, diffusion-weighted, dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion, and 3D-T1CE sequences after 0.1 mmol/kg gadobutrol. We assessed nVS related to the tumor on 1-mm isovoxel 3D-T1CE images, and relative cerebral blood volume, relative cerebral flow volume (rCBF), delay mean time, and apparent diffusion coefficient in volumes of interest for contrast-enhancing lesion (CEL), non-CEL, and contralateral normal-appearing white matter. We also assessed Visually Accessible Rembrandt Images scoring system features. We used ROC curves to determine the cutoff for nVS and univariate and multivariate cox proportional hazards regression for overall survival. Prognostic factors were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival and ROC analyses. Lesions with nVS > 5 were classified as having highly developed macrovascular network; 58 (60.4%) tumors had highly developed macrovascular network. Patients with highly developed macrovascular network were older, had higher volumeCEL, increased rCBFCEL, and poor survival; nVS correlated negatively with survival (r = −0.286; p = 0.008). On multivariate analysis, standard treatment, age at diagnosis, and macrovascular network best predicted survival at 1 year (AUC 0.901, 83.3% sensitivity, 93.3% specificity, 96.2% PPV, 73.7% NPV). Contrast-enhanced MRI macrovascular network improves survival prediction in newly diagnosed glioblastoma.