New expert guidance by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) outlines recommendations for developing policies regarding the use of animals in healthcare facilities, including animal-assisted activities, service animals, research animals and personal pet visitation in acute care hospitals.

‘Animals have had an increasing presence in healthcare facilities,’ said David Weber, MD, MPH, a lead author of the recommendations. ‘While there may be benefits to patient care, the role of animals in the spread of bacteria is not well understood. We have developed standard infection prevention and control guidance to help protect patients and healthcare providers via animal-to-human transmission in healthcare settings.’

Since evidence on the role animals play in the transmission of pathogens in healthcare facilities is largely unknown, the SHEA Guidelines Committee comprised of experts in infection control and prevention developed the recommendations based on available evidence, practical considerations, a SURVEY of SHEA members, writing group opinion and consideration of potential harm where applicable. The guidance was also endorsed by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), a professional association of more than 15,000 infection preventionists.

Guidance is grouped by the role of animals

The Space GlucoseControl system (SGC) is a nurse-driven, computer-assisted device for glycemic control combining infusion pumps with the enhanced Model Predictive Control algorithm. The authors aimed to investigate the performance of the SGC in medical critically ill patients.
Two open clinical investigations in tertiary centres in Graz, Austria and Zurich, Switzerland were performed. Efficacy was assessed by percentage of time within the target range (4.4

Since the first

A new test can guide treatment for patients with graft versus host disease (GVHD), an often life-threatening complication of bone marrow and stem cell transplants, according to research from the University of Michigan.

Better way to personalize treatment for bone marrow transplant patients
Patients with fatal blood cancers like leukaemia often need bone marrow or stem cell transplants to survive. But one of the most common and serious side effects that patients face is graft vs. host disease: when a patient

Drawing blood and testing it is standard practice for many medical diagnostics. As a less painful alternative, scientists are developing skin patches that could one day replace the syringe. One team reports they have designed and successfully tested, for the first time, a small skin patch that detected malaria proteins in live mice. It could someday be adapted for use in humans to diagnose other diseases, too.
Simon R. Corrie and colleagues note that while blood is rich with molecular clues that tell a story about a person