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a culture of service...
February, 2011
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Brainteasers
Take the "Who Said It?" challenge
...
Part 2
Enter here
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Hospitals Being Coerced into Disclosing Infection Rates
May lose partial Medicare funding if they refuse
Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI's)
are the most common complication of hospital care and are listed among the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. It is estimated that each year there are more than 1.7 million infections, 99,000 deaths, and $3.1 billion dollars in excess health-care costs in acute-care hospitals alone.
The vision of the federal government's HAI reporting program is to significantly reduce these infections in the coming years. Of particular concern are septicemias caused by improperly handled catheters. Nearly 250,000 septicemias occur each year in U.S. hospitals due to catheters, and they contribute to roughly 31,000 patient deaths annually. Recent research shows that most all of these deadly blood infections can be prevented by implementing safety measures by hospital staff.
The new federal HAI reporting program, which began this year, is technically voluntary. However, if any of the nations 4,300 acute-care hospitals don't comply, they would lose two percent of their Medicare funding beginning in 2013.
It is hoped that the new measures will focus more attention on hospital infection control, shorten the average length of patient hospitalization, and ultimately save lives.
For testing of environmental surfaces for MRSA see
HardyCHROM MRSA agar plate.
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Getting Real
Can you match the real names
to the following celebrity
stage names?
.
1. Tom Cruise
2. Pee Wee Herman
3. Tiger Woods
4. Michael Caine
5. Tom Jones
6. Sting
A. Thomas Woodward
B. Thomas Mapother IV
C. Paul Reubenfeld
D. Eldrick Woods
E. Maurice Micklewhite
F. Gordon Sumner
Answers
1.B; 2. C; 3. D; 4. E; 5. A; 6.F
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Think about it...
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Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
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If a turtle loses its shell, is it naked or homeless?
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Why don't psychics predict the winning lottery numbers and retire?
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What happens if you drive at the speed of light and turn your head lights on?
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Why is abbreviation such a long word?
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Famous
Snarky
Remarks
.
Lady Nancy Astor:
"If I had a husband like you, I'd give him poison!"
Winston Churchill:
"
Madam, If I had a wife like you I'd take it."
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Foot in
Mouth Disease
"The war against infectious diseases has been won."
"It is time to close the book on infectious disease."
~ Dr. William Stewart ~
Surgeon General of the United States
1965 to 1969
Gloating over the apparent victory over measles and smallpox in 1967; oblivious to looming epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and resistant bacteria.
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QUICK LINKS...
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CLICK HERE
Want to review past issues
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Did you know?
Hardy Diagnostics...
-
Is celebrating its 30th year of serving microbiologists?
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Manufactures over
3,000 products
for microbiology for you to choose from.
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Maintains seven distribution centers in the U.S. for faster turn around time to your lab.
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Is
ISO 13485
certified for the manufacture of medical devices to give you confidence in our products.
-
Offers you its technical manual,
HUGO
, which contains over 4,500 pages of information regarding microbiology.
-
Maintains a worldwide network of over 30 distributors.
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Micro Musings..
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Infection Risks with
Organ Transplants
Learn
about amebic infections
that can be transferred as a result of transplantation surgery.
Article by Joe DiPersio, PhD
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Seeing is Believing?
So where did this "hole
"
come from?
The bottom triangle is made up of the exact same shapes as the top triangle, just rearranged. The overall shape and size of the two triangles are identical. So where did the white "hole" come from?
________
"Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear."
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Hardy introduces...
HardyCHROM SS
Shigella sonnei
on HardyCHROM SS
Salmonella enterica
on HardyCHROM SS
The most important breakthrough in SS stool screening since HE Agar!...no wait...it's better than HE Agar... Here's why:
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A highly selective chromogenic medium for the primary screening of stools for the isolation and differentiation of
both
Salmonella
and
Shigella
spp.
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Non-pathogenic organisms are easily ruled out based on colony color.
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Reduces costly false positive work-ups.
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Less colony picking, sub-culturing, and identifications needed.
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Reduces the number of plates for primary stool setup.
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Effectively rules out most
Proteus
spp.
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Manufactured in an ISO 13485 certified facility.
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Competitive pricing, quality products, with exceptional service and support.
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Utilizes a patented chromogen - a Hardy Diagnostics exclusive.
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Reduce labor and material costs by up to 20% - call for data.
Learn more...
Please send a free sample.
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From the
Microbiology
Hall of Fame
. . .
Fanny Hesse
Researcher in Robert Koch's Lab
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Discovered the use of agar in culture media.
In 1874, Fanny Angelina Eilshemius, an American from New York, married Walter Hesse, a German physician, who later went to work in Robert Koch's microbiology lab in Berlin.
Walter became frustrated by their inability to effectively grow and isolate bacterial colonies. They tried using gelatin as a gelling agent, but many species of bacteria digest and liquefy gelatin. What's more, the gelatin tended to melt in the hot summer months. They also tried growing bacteria on slices of potato, but this did not support the growth of many bacterial species.
Fanny finally solved the problem by suggesting that they use
agar
from seaweed. Fanny was familiar with the use of agar in her jams and jellies, which she learned from one of her Dutch neighbors who had previously lived in Java (Indonesia).
Fanny's suggestion, made in 1881, turned out to be very successful, and helped Koch and his researchers discover the causative agent for 21 different diseases within 21 years!
In Koch's lab, Fanny continued with her research and was noted for her excellent illustrations of the organisms she observed under the microscope.
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See the survey results...
Should the new
health-care reform act
be repealed?
See
what your fellow
MicroBytes
readers thought
about this important issue.
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Should we tighten up
our gun control laws?
Tell us your opinion!
Let your thoughts be known! The results of this survey will be published in next month's MicroBytes, along with selected comments that we receive (without names).
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Wisdom to ponder...
Vince Lombardi
Led the Green Bay Packers
to five NFL championships
1913 ~ 1970
"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm."
"If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?"
"People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society."
"Winners never quit and quitters never win."
"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser."
"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall."
"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time."
________________
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RUBES
Find more of Leigh Rubin's cartoon humor.
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Advice from the Founders...
"It does not take a majority to prevail...
but rather an irate, tireless minority,
keen on setting brushfires of freedom
in the minds of men."
Samuel Adams
A
merican statesman, founding father,
and political philosopher
1722 ~ 1803
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"Common sense
is the most widely shared
commodity in the world,
for every man is convinced
that he is well supplied with it."
Rene Decartes
French philosopher
1596 ~ 1650
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