[Diagnostic Stewardship - The right test for the right patient with the right consequences]. / Diagnostic Stewardship.

In 2023, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Task Force issued a practice recommendation on the integration of diagnostic stewardship into antibiotic stewardship (ABS) programs, which focuses on optimizing sample collection, processing, and reporting to ensure a correct test result on the one hand, and on the justifying indication to perform diagnostics on the other.Unnecessary microbiological or serological tests produce results that can then lead to unnecessary further tests for clarification or unnecessary antibiotic administration. A classic example is "routine" urine cultures before non-urological, surgical interventions, which often lead to the treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria. Every microbiological diagnosis must therefore be preceded by a specific question, whereby screening examinations from epidemiological questions must be clearly distinguished from clinical requirements. A particular problem is the distinction between contamination, colonization and infection, especially when samples are taken from catheters or drains. These materials should always be evaluated with extreme caution and may only be accepted at all if the clinical question is clear and subject to this very reservation. This article summarizes the existing evidence on diagnostic stewardship interventions and recommendations on their implementation, extrapolating the international literature to the specifications of the German health care system.

[Prioritized utilisation and reprocessing of reusable equipment in anaesthesiology deparmtents : Recommendations on how to reduce CO2 emissions from anaesthetic equipment]. / Priorisierte Verwendung und hygienische Aufbereitung von Mehrwegmaterialien in anästhesiologischen Kliniken : Empfehlung zur Reduktion der CO2-Emissionen beim Verbrauch von Sachartikeln in der Anästhesiologie.

Currently, few robust data are available to provide estimates of the environmental footprint and in particular the CO2 emissions of medical devices; however, existing life cycle assessments largely indicate that reusable materials have more favorable emissions and environmental footprints compared to disposable items. Thus, the challenge for every anesthesiology department is to identify items that can be used as reusable products for ecological and other reasons.A prerequisite for the use of reusable items is hygienically correct reprocessing and packaging. Here, a distinction must be made between noncritical, semicritical and critical medical devices, depending on the type of use. In addition, a distinction must be made between categories A-C, depending on the complexity of the reprocessing.In this narrative review article common reusable items used in anesthesiology are categorized and a standardized decision algorithm for reprocessing routes is proposed. Special attention is also given to the packaging of medical devices, which can contribute to the ecological footprint to a relevant extent.This article further explains the framework under which reprocessing can take place and analyzes the current state of knowledge on the life cycle assessment of reprocessing reusable devices.This requires the special commitment of clinically active anesthesiologists to include ecological aspects in the decision to use disposable or reusable items. In the medium term, comprehensible ecological key numbers should be provided on every medical device to make the ecological costs of the articles understandable in addition to the monetary costs.

History-based preoperative evaluation of antibiotic-related allergies and design of an easy to use questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: An unconfirmed history of antibiotic allergies may negatively influence prescribing patterns for preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis and increase rates of postoperative wound infections through unnecessary use of alternative antibiotics. METHODS: After a literature search, we developed a questionnaire for the structured collection of antibiotic allergy history in the anesthesia consultation center and tested it over 2 years at a tertiary care hospital under everyday conditions as part of a quality assurance project. All data were evaluated completely anonymously in the context of standard care. RESULTS: After refining the questionnaire, we analyzed 4866 recorded optimized questionnaires, of which 51 were incomplete. An antibiotic allergy was denied 4312 times and affirmed 503 times, which corresponds to 10% in our sample. The most frequent single substances or groups in the 503 respondents with a positive history of antibiotic allergy were penicillin in 271 (54%), amoxicillin in 65 (13%), an unknown single agent in 50 (10%) and multiple substances in 25 (5%). The reported event occurred more than 10 years ago in 192 (38%) of the respondents, less than 10 years ago in 116 (23%), and 195 (39%) could not provide information. The time from exposure to symptom onset was less than 1h in 96 (19%), between 1 and 24 h in 75 (15%), more than 24 h in 106 (21%), and the remainder could not provide information. Allergy-specific treatment was recalled by 75 (15%) respondents, 287 (57%) reported not having received specific treatment, and the remainder could not recall. A specific allergy test was reported by 55 (11%) respondents, 337 (67%) said no allergy test had been made, and the rest could not recall. A substance-specific allergy passport was issued in 80 (16%) respondents. According to expert assessment, symptoms compatible with an IgE-mediated reaction were present in 96 (19%) of the respondents. An IgE-mediated reaction was considered possible in 70 (14%) and could be excluded by history in 337 (67%) of respondents. Out of 503 respondents with a positive history 51 (10%) could not remember the allergic substance but 7 (14%) of the 51 reported symptoms compatible with severe anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock and 6 of the 51(12%) reported symptoms possibly related to an IgE-mediated reaction. DISCUSSION: Our survey revealed approximately 10% of respondents reporting an antibiotic allergy, which is in the upper range of data published in international literature and corresponds most closely to American data. Thus, the topic is also relevant to German anesthesia consultation centers, given the high rate of respondents who could have been "delabeled" based on the comprehensive assessment of their history. More expert allergy testing is needed in patients who report symptoms related or probably related to an IgE-mediated reaction. In our opinion, a special issue exists in those patients who did not remember the exact antibiotic but reported symptoms compatible with severe anaphylaxis putting them at high risk of unintended re-exposure.

[Experiences and Resilience of Hygiene Team Members During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic]. / Erfahrungen und Resilienz von Mitgliedern des Hygieneteams während der SARS-CoV-2 Pandemie.

BACKGROUND: In compliance with German data protections regulations, we conducted an anonymous survey among participants of the annual infectious disease and control meeting in Freiburg, Germany in October 2021. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We report the results of nurse and physician members of infection control teams on their perceptions and emotions during the pandemic. Descriptive statistics and Chi Square Test with P<0.05 (SPSS Statistics Standard Version) were used when applicable. RESULTS: Of the 391 of 750 distributed surveys, 391 were returned; 48% were infection control practitioners (IP), 12% Link Nurses (LN), 12% Board Certified Hospital Epidemiologists (HE), 17% infection control-trained physicians (ITP), 1% Occupational Health or Public Health specialists and 10% others. 72% were female, 25.3% male, 0.2% divers and 2.5% gave no answers. The 349 members of infection control teams (IP, LN, HE, ITP) reported a high level of competency, importance and appreciation and a low rate of anxiety or hopelessness. A quarter reported anger and frustration which nevertheless did not result in reduced motivation. Information provided by the German national health agency Robert Koch-Institute (RKI) was utilized most by participants. Social media, on the other hand, were criticized frequently. Cooperation within the institution and local public health authorities was good. Free text answers regarding lessons learned showed wide potential for improvement. CONCLUSION: Our survey results indicate a high level of resilience among members of infection control teams in German medical institutions despite obvious shortcomings in supplies during the first wave of the pandemic. The high level of self-perceived competency and appreciation possibly helped deal with the situation and prevented the feeling of loss of control implied in the question items "feeling overwhelmed" and "hopeless". However, the lessons learned from the pandemic need to be implemented to maintain this high level of resilience not only for infection control teams but the medical system in general.

[Infection Prevention in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)]. / Infektionsprävention in der Intensivmedizin.

Secondary to the underlying disease, the need for invasive devices and frequent drug-induced changes in immunocompetence and microbiota, critically ill patients have a high risk of suffering nosocomial infections. According to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) this affects 8,4% of patients treated in an ICU for more than 48 hours. Key points of infection prevention are maintenance of the patients' microbiota and sometimes individually chosen interventions to its restoration or focused manipulation; development and implementation of care bundles for frequently used medical devices and invasive treatments (esp. intravenous catheters and invasive ventilation); adequate staffing not only for physicians, nurses and other medical staff but also for housekeeping staff, infection surveillance and motivational feedback, patient empowerment and visitor involvement. Functional building design and well organized logistics assist in achieving infection prevention goals by fostering adherence to basic hygiene procedure, esp. hand hygiene and risk-adjusted use of personal protective equipment. Daily interdisciplinary rounds following the principles of crew resource management strategies allow the structured check for unnecessary devices and inadequate use of antiinfective agents in particular and the discussion of all aspects of the patients' situation in general.

The role of the faucet's aerator kit for contamination of drinking water.

Experimentally we demonstrated the possibility of retrograde contamination of aerator kits, independent of special design, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In a real life setting contamination of aerator kits with typical environmental and water organisms occurred, whether they were changed after 6 or 12 weeks, so we recommend a risk adjusted rather than schedule-based changing regimen in hospitals, eg, if potential retrograde contamination might be a relevant factor in rooms occupied by patients with multiresistant gram-negative organisms.

[Infection Prevention in Anesthesiology during the SARS-CoV 2-pandemic]. / Hygiene in der Anästhesie in Zeiten der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie.

It is necessary to discuss the sometimes competing goals of sufficient critical care capacity, maintenance of regular patient care, protection of medical staff, interruption of infectious chains within the general public and individual aspects of patient care in anesthesia and the operating room in times of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, given the uncertainty of many data on which decisions need to be based. Basic hygiene remains the cornerstone of infection prevention especially when resources are sparse and SARS-CoV-2 specific additional measures need to be taken according to a risk analysis taking the dynamic of the pandemic as well as local factors into account.

[Nosocomial pneumonia]. / Nosokomiale Pneumonien.

Nosocomial pneumonia is one of the leading entities of nosocomial infections in Germany and worldwide with invasive ventilation being one of the major risk factors. However nosocomial pneumonia without ventilator support is an underappreciated complication as demonstrated by prevalence studies of the European Centre for Disease Control in 2011 and 2016. Major general risk factors include old age, multi-morbidity, preexisting pulmonary disease, immunosuppression and abdominal or thoracic surgery. Evidence based prevention measures for ventilated patients include hand hygiene, aseptic handling techniques of the ventilator circuit, subglottic suctioning for patients intubated more than 72 hours, cuff pressure control, mouth and dental care, daily spontaneous breathing trials, use of sedation protocols and head of bed 30-45 degrees. For non-ventilated patients early mobilization and/or frequent position changes, correct use of feeding tubes and mouth care are key components. In preoperative patients training of a simple breathing exercise combined with mnemonic aids for its use in the postoperative period has been proven to be helpful.

[Penicillin Allergy - Deadly "Fake News" in the Medical Record?] / Penicillin-Allergie ­ tödliche "Fake News" in der Krankenakte?

The note "penicillin allergy" in the medical record is given in the literature with a prevalence of 8 - 12% and represents the most frequently reported "allergy". However, there are a number of hypersensitivity reactions of which true anaphylaxis is only a small part. Therefore, a specific allergy history should be included in the file for patients with suspected penicillin allergy. Even a simple survey can identify those patients who can easily obtain cephalosporin, especially cefazolin. Any unclear history of antibiotic allergy should be followed by a stepwise allergological diagnosis. This is because suspected allergies are associated with an increased rate of postoperative wound infections when alternatives to preoperative prophylaxis are used and a general increase in mortality, presumably due to poorly effective therapies and increased side effects. The article explains the risk stratification for the evaluation of a penicillin allergy, shows reasons for insufficient clarification and incorrect documentation of allergy anamnesis and describes diagnosis and therapy of true anaphylaxis.

Discrimination of Human Pathogen Clostridium Species Especially of the Heterogeneous C. sporogenes and C. botulinum by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry.

Clostridium species cause several local and systemic diseases. Conventional identification of these microorganisms is in part laborious, not always reliable, time consuming or does not always distinguish different species, i.e., C. botulinum and C. sporogenes. All in, there is a high interest to find out a reliable, powerful and rapid method to identify Clostridium spp. not only on genus but also on species level. The aim of the present study was to identify Clostridium spp. strains and also to find differences and metabolic groups of C. botulinum by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). A total of 123 strains of Clostridium spp. (C. botulinum, n = 40, C. difficile, n = 11, C. tetani, n = 11, C. sordellii, n = 20, C. sporogenes, n = 18, C. innocuum, n = 10, C. perfringens, n = 13) were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS in combination with methods of multivariate statistical analysis. MALDI-TOF MS analysis in combination with methods of multivariate statistical analysis was able to discriminate between the different tested Clostridium spp., even between species which are closely related and difficult to differentiate by traditional methods, i.e., C. sporogenes and C. botulinum. Furthermore, the method was able to separate the different metabolic groups of C. botulinum. Especially, E gene-positive C. botulinum strains are clearly distinguishable from the other species but also from those producing other toxin types. Thus, MALDI-TOF MS represents a reliable and above all quick method for identification of cultivated Clostridium species.