New patient privacy curtains to provide passive infection prevention.

Background: Cloth privacy curtains represent a potentially overlooked high touch surface. Inconsistent cleaning schedules paired with frequent contact allow curtains to provide a surface for the transmission of healthcare associated pathogens. Privacy curtains integrated with antimicrobial and sporicidal agents are shown to reduce the number of bacteria found on the surface of the curtains. The purpose of this initiative is to utilize antimicrobial and sporicidal privacy curtains to mitigate the transmission of healthcare associated pathogens from curtains to patients. Methods: The pre/post-test study design compared the bacterial and sporicidal burden of cloth curtains to the bacterial and sporicidal burden of Endurocide curtains following 20-weeks of use within the inpatient setting of a large military medical hospital. The Endurocide curtains were installed on two inpatient units in the organization. We also compared the overall costs associated with the two different types of curtains. Results: The antimicrobial and sporicidal curtains had a significant reduction in bacterial contamination (32.6 CFUs vs 0.56 CFUs, P < 0.05) after instillation on both units. There were no additional hospital associated infections during the study period. In addition, the direct cost savings of replacing the antimicrobial and sporicidal curtains is estimated to be $20,079.38 annually with a reduction of 66.95 hours in environmental services workload. Conclusion: These curtains represent a cost-effective intervention effective at reducing CFUs with the potential to mitigate the transmission of hospital associated pathogens to patients.

Clinical Nurse Specialist Impact on COVID-19 Preparation at a Military Treatment Facility.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly challenged healthcare organizations across the globe, forcing innovation, resourcefulness, and flexibility. The purpose of this article is to describe the impact of clinical nurse specialist practice on COVID-19 preparation at a military hospital. ENVIRONMENT OF CARE CHANGES: The pandemic required facilities to develop expansion plans to facilitate a potential surge of COVID-19 patients. Clinical nurse specialists collaborated to develop a plan to expand care capacity and streamline testing while designating specific critical care and medical-surgical areas for COVID-19 patients. STAFFING CONSIDERATIONS: To capitalize on the expanded bed capacity, clinical nurse specialists identified and trained outpatient nursing staff to serve as nurse extenders. DISCUSSION: Early in the pandemic, a lack of strong evidence-based interventions to mitigate transmission and treatment necessitated the development of innovative solutions. The clinical nurse specialist team established designated transport routes for COVID-19 patients, leveraged technology to improve methods of care, and cultivated a culture of innovation by providing on-the-spot meaningful recognition to staff. CONCLUSION: As leaders in healthcare, clinical nurse specialists are change agents that work to maintain high-quality, safe patient care even during a global pandemic.

Effects of fish heme protein structure and lipid substrate composition on hemoglobin-mediated lipid oxidation.

Hemoglobin (Hb) promoted lipid oxidation more effectively in washed tilapia as compared to washed cod in spite of a 2.8-fold higher polyenoic index in the washed cod. This suggested that increasing the fatty acid unsaturation of the substrate did not accelerate the onset of lipid oxidation. Substantial phospholipid hydrolysis in the washed cod was observed, which has the potential to inhibit lipid oxidation. MetHb formation and lipid oxidation occurred more rapidly at pH 6.3 as compared to pH 7.4. Trout Hb autoxidized faster and was a better promoter of lipid oxidation as compared to tilapia Hb. The greater ability of trout Hb to promote lipid oxidation was attributed in part to its lower conformational and structural stability based on secondary and tertiary structure, acid-induced unfolding, and thermal aggregation measurements. It is suggested that the structural instability and lipid oxidation capacity of trout Hb were at least partly due to low hemin affinity. Trout and tilapia Hb were equivalent in their ability to cause lipid oxidation in washed cod muscle heated to 80 degrees C. Apparently, these high temperatures denature both trout and tilapia Hb to such an extent that any differences in conformational stability observed at lower temperatures were negated.

Cell-lab on a chip: a CMOS-based microsystem for culturing and monitoring cells.

We describe a MEMS-on-CMOS microsystem to encage, culture, and monitor cells. The system was designed to perform long-term measurements on arrays of single electrically active cells. A MEMS process flow was developed for the fabrication of closeable microvials to contain each cell, a custom bio-amplifier CMOS chip was designed, fabricated, and tested, and the fabrication of the MEMS structures on this chip was demonstrated. In addition, bovine aortic smooth muscle cells were plated on the surface, and over the course of a week they adhered, formed processes, and reproduced, verifying the compatibility of the materials used with the cell culture.