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MedicalMinute
The latest facts, stats and stories making headlines in health
Can Smart Watch Curb Sepsis in Hospitals?
A new smart watch worn by nurses and physicians in a Utah hospital reminds healthcare providers to wash their hands before entering a patient’s room. The watch detects motions and movements, including entrances to and exits from a pa- tient’s room, and uses a color-based alarm to alert the wearer to wash his or her hands. Green turns to yellow or red, indicating levels of need
to wash hands to control transmit- ted infections, including sepsis.
Intermountain Healthcare, which owns the Utah hospital and developed the smart watch in its Healthcare Transformation Lab, said they tracked a reduction in infection rates at their Salt Lake City hospital.
Some healthcare providers
not affiliated with Intermountain Healthcare expressed concerns
that the watch itself may be a potent reservoir for bacteria. Others say such a device is against “bare below the elbow” hospital policies, which some hospitals have implemented to prevent healthcare-associated infec-
tions that may have been transmitted to patients from attire worn by physi- cians and nurses.
Several types of technology- based devices that monitor hand hygiene and subsequent infection transmittal in hospitals have been developed and tested, with varying success rates. One device, a smart sink, has measured longer hand- washing times among healthcare providers. Other devices proved successful in the short term and ineffective in the long term.
Approximately one in every
25 patients is infected while in a U.S. hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC recommends health- care providers practice hand hygiene at key points in time to disrupt the transmission of micro- organisms to patients. These prac- tices include washing hands before patient contact; after contact with blood, body fluids or contaminated surfaces (even if gloves are worn); before invasive procedures, and after
removing gloves. The complete
CDC guideline for hand hygiene in
healthcare settings is available at
www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/Basics.
html.
Source: Medscape, New Smart Watch May Improve Hand Hygiene in Hospitals, November 10, 2014, accessed December 2014 at medscape.com.
a tablet influenza vaccine could significantly impact vaccine ad- ministration. Tablet vaccines could be delivered to users through the mail at home, at the workplace or at school, and eliminate concerns about needles.
Vaxart produces vaccine tablets using industry-standard cell-culture and solid-dose manufacturing processes. Specific to influenza, Vaxart expects this process to enable manufacturing and distribu- tion of updated annual flu vaccines considerably faster than current egg-based injectable vaccines, reduce cold chain requirements and medical waste, as well as increase U.S. flu vaccination rates.
Sources: Vaxart, Vaxart’s Tablet Vaccine for H1N1 Influenza Generates Protective Immunity Equivalent to Injectable in Phase One Study, October 2014, accessed December 2014 at vaxart.com.
CDC reports 1 in 25 patients is infected while in U.S. hospitals.
Oral Flu Vaccine Tablet Succeeds Phase I Study
An oral influenza vaccine that retains potency at room temperature for more than six months completed Phase I clinical study with impressive results. Vaxart, a privately owned company that develops oral recom- binant vaccines, presented data at the World Vaccine Congress 2014
in Brussels that showed the Vaxart H1N1 flu tablet generated protective immunity comparable to currently licensed influenza vaccines.
Effectiveness of the Vaxart H1N1 flu tablet was measured by hemag- glutinin inhibition assay (HAI), an important standard for determining protective immunity that is used
by healthcare industry research- ers and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In the randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, 92 percent
of the subjects who received the Vaxart tablet vaccine generated strong mucosal and cellular immune responses, suggesting the tablet vaccine could offer broader protec- tion than currently licensed influen- za vaccines. In addition, 75 percent of subjects taking a single dose of the Vaxart H1N1 flu tablet fully sero- converted, a rate equivalent to those reported for licensed vaccines. None of the subjects who received the placebo seroconverted.
Seroconversion is the develop- ment of detectable antibodies in the blood that are directed against an infectious agent. Following serocon- version, a person tests positive for the antibody.
Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Rochester Medical Center, John Treanor, M.D., believes
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