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Prevention of Health Care‐Associated Infections
Book chapter

Prevention of Health Care‐Associated Infections

Daniel J Diekema and Michael A Pfaller
Manual of Clinical Microbiology, pp.106-119
ASM Press, 11th edition
05/15/2015
DOI: 10.1128/9781555817381.ch8

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Abstract

Health care‐associated infections (HAIs) are among the most common complications of health care delivery. Every health care facility must have an infection prevention program charged with monitoring and preventing infections in the health care environment. The clinical microbiology laboratory is inextricably linked to any infection prevention program, because preventing infections requires the ability to diagnose those infections when they occur. In this chapter, we discuss the impact of HAIs, outline the organization of the hospital infection prevention program, and describe the important roles of the clinical microbiology laboratory in HAI prevention. These roles include essential support for surveillance, outbreak detection and management, antimicrobial stewardship, risk assessment and planning, and education. In summary, the clinical microbiology laboratory is an essential element of any effective infection prevention program.
antimicrobial susceptibility testing HAI molecular typing pathogen antimicrobial class endemic infection

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