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Viral respiratory infections are potentially life-threatening among children treated for cancer. We report a nosocomial outbreak of six cases of pandemic influenza A/H1N1/2009 on a paediatric haematology and oncology ward. Three patients developed pneumonia and two of them sustained haemodynamic collapse. The source was probably a relative of the first infected patient. The outbreak was probably spread by cross-infection between patients during communal activities. A few days' delay in identifying the outbreak promoted spread of the influenza. Infection control measures included the use of oral oseltamivir treatment for all hospitalised patients, isolation of the infected patients, strict personal protective controls and a restriction on visitors. No new cases occurred after implementation of these containment measures. At the time when the outbreak was identified, all the patients were already isolated for other reasons. We conclude that A/H1N1/2009 influenza may spread rapidly and cause severe infection in paediatric cancer patients but can be efficiently contained. Identification of isolated or clustered cases should lead to the rapid implementation of appropriate infection control measures., (Copyright © 2011 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: A previous study suggested that most surgical patients do not remember having received information about surgical site infection (SSI). In other fields, written information has been suggested to improve patient satisfaction and recollection of information. Our objective was to assess if providing patients with written information about SSI, in addition to oral information, could influence patient satisfaction, recall of information, and opinion regarding SSI., Methods: A total of 207 patients scheduled for digestive surgery at a university hospital were randomized between usual oral information about SSI, plus an information leaflet about SSI (group O/L), or usual oral information alone (group O). Patients were interviewed 5 weeks after surgery to assess their recall and satisfaction regarding information, opinion regarding SSI, and declared intention of seeking legal action in case of SSI. Surgeons and interviewer were blinded to patients' group allocation. Recruitment occurred between October 2005 and August 2006., Results: Of the original 207 patients, 161 patients (O/L=87, O=74) underwent operation and were interviewed as scheduled. Satisfaction was higher in group O/L (67% vs. O: 43%; P=0.003). The recall of having received information (O/L: 39% vs. O: 31%; P=0.29), was similar between the two groups. Judging SSI as always preventable was more frequent in group O/L (28% vs. O: 9%; P=0.004) with a trend toward a more frequent intention of seeking legal action (O/L: 10% vs. O: 3%; P=0.055)., Conclusions: The leaflet did not improve patient recall of information about SSI, but it was associated with an increased level of satisfaction. The association between the leaflet and judging SSI as always preventable was unexpected.

Introduction: French legislation makes mandatory for healthcare providers the disclosure of hospital infection (HI) risk and actual occurrence to the patient. Given the specific diseases encountered in psychiatry, some difficulties may be expected in practical application of this regulation., Objectives: The aim of our study was to describe the knowledge, declared practices and opinions of healthcare workers (HCW) in psychiatry concerning information for patients about HI., Methods: We randomly selected doctors, nurses and head nurses from four hospitals with psychiatric activity in Normandy. The HCW were asked to self-complete an anonymous questionnaire, including data describing the responding HCW and questions aiming at describing his/her knowledge, attitude in routine daily practice and opinion about information to patients about HI., Results: One hundred and forty-one HCW were initially selected, of which 114 (80.9%) eventually agreed to complete the questionnaire. Only eight HCW (7.0%) were considered to have a correct overall knowledge of legal obligations. Main errors concerned the obligation to inform the patient of the HI risk according to the medical procedures that are to be performed (43.9% of correct answers) and the obligation to inform the patient of the HI risk according to his/her medical condition (46.5%). The obligation to inform the patient of the occurrence of a HI was largely known (84.2%). HCW usually giving information about the risk of HI to patients without HI accounted for 5.3%. Main reasons advocated for not informing patients were a low level risk of HI in psychiatry (80.4%) and the lack of patients' demand (59.8%). In the case of HI occurrence, the percentage of HCW routinely informing patients was 13.2%. HCW systematically informing the patient's family about the occurrence of HI accounted for 9.6%. A large proportion of HCW supported delivering information to patients about HI (86.0%). HCW expected from information better approval of prevention programs by the patients (87.7%) but feared an increased anxiety in patients (75.4%) and a higher rate of care refusal (48.2%)., Conclusion: Whereas a very large proportion of HCW in psychiatry support delivering information to patients about HI, our study shows HCW's lack of awareness of regulations and lack of declared practices. Among factors explaining this contrast, a lower perceived HI risk and severity level are to be mentioned. Training programs focusing on risk and mechanisms of HI could be offered to professionals in psychiatry. The issue of specific communication difficulties with psychiatric patients should be addressed as well. In order to develop information on HI, specific methods suited to those patients should be developed., (2009 L'Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Invasive hospital-acquired aspergillosis (IA) is responsible for lethal outbreaks. In 2002, an interdisciplinary team was created in the teaching hospital of Rouen in order to organize the surveillance of construction sites by the implementation of environmental measures of prevention. The aim of our study was to estimate the efficiency of these measures using an indirect indicator, reflecting the incidence of the cases of invasive nosocomial aspergillosis (AI): the consumption of antifungals. From the nominative prescriptions established, we studied the medical files about 210 patients to track down the number of IA cases in intensive care unit (ICUI) and in pediatric hematology-oncology units between 2002 and 2006. The incidence of the cases was put in parallel with the various periods of level 5-risk works during these five years. The relative risk of appearance of the disease was calculated. In pediatric haematology-oncology unit, 35 cases were diagnosed on 99 medical files which have been studied and in ICU 19 cases were classified on 93 studied files. The follow-up of the incidence in both units stake in parallel with the periods of level 5-risk works does not show increase of the number of cases. The calculated relative risk indicates the same result: the level 5-risk works are not a factor facilitating the appearance of invasive aspergillosis cases. This study shows the importance of the environmental measures of prevention during the periods of works within services for risk. The coordination of the actors within an interdisciplinary cell seems thus essential for the prevention of AIN.

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge of healthcare students after four curricula on infection control and to identify sources of information., Design: Cross-sectional study., Setting: Four healthcare schools at Rouen University (Rouen, France)., Participants: Medical students, nursing students, assistant radiologist students, and physiotherapist students taking public health courses., Methods: To measure students' knowledge of infection control and their sources of information, 6 multiple-choice questions were asked about 3 specific areas: standard precautions, hand hygiene, and nosocomial infection. Each questionnaire section had 10 possible points, for an overall perfect score of 30. The sources of information for these 3 areas were also recorded: self-learning, practice training in wards, formal training in wards, and teaching during the curriculum. A logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with acceptable level of knowledge., Results: Three hundred fifty students (107 medical students, 78 nursing students, 71 physiotherapist students, and 94 assistant radiologists tudents) were included in the study. The mean overall score (+/- SD) was 21.5 +/- 2.84. Nursing students had a better mean overall score (23.2 +/- 2.35) than did physiotherapist students (21.9 +/- 2.36), medical students (21.1 +/- 2.35), and assistant radiologist students (20.5 +/- 3.04; P.001). The mean scores ( +/- SD) for the component sections of the questionnaire were 8.5 +/- 1.4 for standard precautions, 7.4 +/- 1.26 for hand hygiene,and 5.7 +/- 1.55 for nosocomial infections (P .001). The main source of information was material taught during the curriculum., Conclusion: The overall score for infection control indicated that instruction was effective; however, knowledge levels were different by area (the best scores were results of tests of standard precautions) and curriculum (nursing students achieved the best overall score). Ward training for daily infection control practice (ie, bedside instructions training and course work) could be improved for healthcare students.

The risk of infection in a hospital is an age-old concern that one would have thought vanished with the arrival of antibiotics. Nosocomial infections (NI), which have now become a major public health issue, refer to infections that affect both patients and professionals. However, NI affecting patients have more social visibility than those that are likely to affect health professionals. The aim of this qualitative research study based on 117 semi-guided interviews with hospital care providers is to establish the professional risk and the way it is perceived by health professionals. Results are presented and discussed in two parts: the segmentation of the infectious risk representations and practices such as negotiating compromises between conflicting requirements.

Although informing patients about medical risks is said to decrease the number of malpractice claims, most inpatients receive no information about hospital infection. Using a self-administered questionnaire, we surveyed 1270 healthcare workers randomly selected from 22 French hospitals to assess their opinion on information for patients about hospital infection risks, and their practice of informing patients with, or without, hospital infection. The influence of healthcare worker characteristics on opinion and practice was assessed using logistic regression. Response rate was 87.2%. Although 85.4% supported giving more information, only 17.0% routinely informed non-infected patients and 31.6% informed infected patients about infection. Attitudes were influenced by healthcare worker characteristics and environmental factors. Knowledge of obligations influenced practice when informing non-infected patients, but not those with hospital-acquired infection. Further research is needed to help healthcare professionals improve risk communication and disclosure of hospital infection.

Handrubbing with alcohol-based hand rub (AHR) is a validated alternative to handwashing. The aims of this study were to compare knowledge and declared use of AHR between different categories of healthcare worker (HCW), and to assess factors associated with the use of AHR. A standardized questionnaire was sent to all HCWs in a tertiary care university hospital. The following data were collected for each HCW: job title (physician, nurse, nursing assistant or other), sources of information about AHR; knowledge and perception of AHR and declared use of AHR in daily practice instead of unmedicated or antiseptic soap. Of 5238 questionnaires, 1811 were returned. Physicians had better knowledge about AHR than other HCWs. HCWs' knowledge of AHR efficacy and skin tolerance were independently associated with the use of AHR instead of unmedicated or antiseptic soap. The declared use of AHR differed according to professional category.

Objective: To evaluate the ability of a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) medical staff to assess at admission the individual risk of nosocomial infection (NI) during SICU stay in patients admitted for at least 48 h., Design: Prospective observational study., Setting: A tertiary-care university hospital., Patients and Participants: 201 admissions to the SICU from November 19, 2003, until April 16, 2004., Measurements and Results: Assessment by medical staff at admission of each patient's estimated risk of NI (pneumonia, venous central catheter-related infection, symptomatic urinary tract infection, and bacteremia) during SICU hospitalization, in order to classify patients into four groups: NI risk very low or absent (group 1), low (group 2), high (group 3), very high or certain (group 4). NI was diagnosed via routine surveillance according to Centers for Disease Control case definitions., Results: 154 patients were assessed; the percentage of patients with NI increased with estimated risk at admission, from 0% in group 1 to 14.3% in group 4. Positive predictive value of medical assessment varied from 8.4% to 14.5%, according to the cutoff value. Negative predictive value varied from 92.1% to 100%., Conclusion: Our study suggests that ICU physicians encounter a major difficulty when informing patients or patients' families about the risk of NI occurrence, as they cannot predict this risk accurately. This limitation should be explained to patients and their families.

Objective: Glutamine (Gln)-supplemented total parenteral nutrition (TPN) improves clinical outcome after planned surgery, but the benefits of Gln-TPN for critically ill (intensive care unit; ICU) patients are still debated., Design: Prospective, double-blind, controlled, randomized trial., Setting: ICUs in 16 hospitals in France., Patients: One-hundred fourteen ICU patients admitted for multiple trauma (38), complicated surgery (65), or pancreatitis (11)., Interventions: Patients were randomized to receive isocaloric isonitrogenous TPN via a central venous catheter providing 37.5 kcal and 1.5 g amino acids.kg-1.day-1 supplemented with either L-alanyl-L-glutamine dipeptide (0.5 g.kg-1.day-1; Ala-Gln group, n=58) or L-alanine+L-proline (control group, n=56) over at least 5 days., Measurements and Main Results: Complicated clinical outcome was defined a priori by the occurrence of infectious complications (according to the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), wound complication, or death. The two groups were compared by chi-square test on an intention-to-treat basis. The two groups did not differ at inclusion for type and severity of injury (mean simplified acute physiology score II, 30 vs. 30.5; mean injury severity score, 44.9 vs. 42.3). Similar volumes of TPN were administered in both groups. Ala-Gln-supplemented TPN was associated with a lower incidence of complicated outcome (41% vs. 61%; p<.05), which was mainly due to a reduced infection rate per patient (mean, 0.45 vs. 0.71; p<.05) and incidence of pneumonia (10 vs. 19; p<.05). Early death rate during treatment and 6-month survival were not different. Hyperglycemia was less frequent (20 vs. 30 patients; p<.05) and there were fewer insulin-requiring patients (14 vs. 22; p<.05) in the Ala-Gln group., Conclusions: TPN supplemented with Ala-Gln dipeptide in ICU patients is associated with a reduced rate of infectious complications and better metabolic tolerance.

Unlabelled: Sixty-five inpatients in various surgery departments were questioned about their knowledge and opinions regarding nosocomial infection, the information they were given on nosocomial infection, and their supposed attitude should they contract a nosocomial infection., Results: Seventeen (26%, [16-39%]) were able to describe nosocomial infections as infections acquired in hospital. Identification of nosocomial infections as hospital-acquired infections was significantly associated with a high educational level and with having a member of their own family working in a health-related field. Fifty-two patients (80.0%, [68.2-88.9%]) stated that during their hospitalization they had received no information concerning nosocomial infections and 50 patients (76.9% [64.8-86.5]) mentioned that patients would welcome information about nosocomial infections. Thirty-three patients [50.8, 95% CI(38.6-62.9%)] declared that they would seek legal action against the hospital should they contract a nosocomial infection. There was a trend toward a higher probability of legal action in patients who rated their own risk of nosocomial infection as low or absent versus those who rated their own risk of nosocomial infection as medium or high (58.0% vs. 28.6%, p=0.051). The intention of seeking legal action against the hospital in case of nosocomial infection was not significantly influenced by patients' opinion regarding nosocomial infection preventability.

Mediastinitis is a severe complication of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) particularly when harvesting internal mammary arteries (IMA). CABG in diabetic patients often uses two IMA because the saphenous graft is damaged. To our knowledge this risk of mediastinitis has not previously been reported in diabetic patients. All consecutive diabetic patients undergoing CABG over a three-year period from 1998 to 2000 were included in the study. Data recorded were: age, sex, duration of stay, whether one or two IMA were used, diagnosis of mediastinitis. Calculation of relative risk and analysis of trends by chi2 trend tests was also performed. In total 256 diabetic patients were included in the cohort. The incidence of mediastinitis was 4.3% (11/256). The risk of mediastinitis was higher in patients with two IMA than in patients with one IMA (relative risk 5.97, 95 CI 1.63-21.93, P=0.004). Age and sex were not confounding factors. No patients with mediastinitis died. Bilateral IMA grafting is associated with higher risk of mediastinitis in diabetic patients. The authors suggest that the risk of mediastinitis in diabetic patients should be taken into consideration when cardiac surgeons choose unilateral or bilateral IMA harvesting for surgery.

Objective: Hospital-acquired urinary tract infections (HUTI) represent a significant impairment in the quality of health care. Incidence in catheterized patients has been estimated at approximately 20%, however few data are available in urologic patients. We report a prospective surveillance program over 6 years in our urologic department and evaluate its evolution., Methods: Population consists of all patients admitted to the urology ward for 48 hours or more over a 6-year period from 1994. Data recorded: age, gender, duration of stay, insertion and removal of catheters, diagnosis of HUTI., Analysis: calculation of incidence, and incidence density for HUTI and for catheter-related HUTI, analysis of trends by chi(2) trend test., Results: A total of 10,054 consecutive patients were included, 52% were catheterized. The median incidence of catheter-related HUTI in catheterized patients was 13.0%, the incidence density was 25.1 HUTI/1000 patient-days of catheterization. The proportion of HUTI and specific catheter-related HUTI patients decreased, respectively from 8.4% and 14.2% to 6.5% and 12.3% during the study period (p<0.05)., Conclusion: The rate of HUTI was not as high as previously reported, perhaps due to a controlled catheter policy. Surveillance was associated with a significant decrease in infection rates, suggesting a beneficial feedback effect. Evaluation of diagnoses and surgical procedures would ensure an optimal quality control program.

Background: The accepted standard in estimating the stay prolongation attributable to surgical site infections is the matched-cohort study method (MCS), which is associated with selection bias. The Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) has been used to estimate stay prolongation attributable to nosocomial infections but has not been validated specifically for surgical site infections., Aim of the Study: To compare estimates of stay prolongation attributable to surgical site infections after digestive surgery, obtained by AEP and by MCS., Methods: Sixty-five surgical site infections after digestive tract surgery were analyzed by AEP and MCS. AEP stay prolongation was the number of days judged specifically appropriate for the care of surgical site infections. MCS stay prolongation was the difference of stay duration in surgical site infection cases and two controls matched by age, sex, and diagnosis-related groups. Sensitivity and specificity of AEP, and agreement between both methods, were calculated., Results: The mean AEP stay prolongation was 3.5 days vs 7.2 days for MCS. The sensitivity of AEP was 58% and the specificity was 75%. The agreement between the two methods was poor., Conclusion: Surgical site infections after digestive tract surgery increased the hospital stay. Accurate estimations of a prolongation of stay will vary according to the method selected.