HAIs

Each day, people rely on their local hospitals to heal them. But these hospitals are also where thousands will acquire dangerous and potentially lethal infections, adverse drug events, or other harms.

Researchers at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering, backed by funding from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, are developing tools that promise powerful new ways to combat catheter-based and other infections without provoking bacterial resistance to antibiotics.

Experts say that vaccination of healthcare workers against influenza is one of the key ways to protect patients and boost occupational health, yet annually, infection preventionists engage in a battle of persuasion and politics to get better compliance rates at their institutions. While many facilities are requiring vaccination as a condition of employment, others are finding creative ways to get healthcare workers to do what's right while protecting the individual's right to choose.