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A retrospective audit from 1 June 1993 to 31 May 1994 of all new paediatric referrals (921 children) was performed to evaluate a popular radiological protocol for the investigation of first urinary tract infections (UTIs). Of the 71 children with their first UTI, 12 were investigated inadequately. These were younger (average age 16 months) and their investigations were modified not by their parents but by their paediatricians who reinterpreted the protocol such that invasive investigations were avoided. However, GP follow‐up three years later showed that none of the 12 had recurrence of their symptoms.

Menstruation is a part of the female reproductive cycle that begins with adolescence. Menstruation is a natural change; it relates to several malpractices and misconceptions that may contribute to adverse health outcomes.

The authors have searched relevant papers using Google Scholar and PubMed to write this mini review.

During menstruation, poor hygiene maintenance can cause serious illness, which includes the urinary tract and reproductive tract infection. Menstruation management is a hygienic system, and it is essential for females because poor hygiene maintenance during menstruation can cause some infections and numerous sexually transmitted diseases. There are a few nanotechnology-based products that have come into the market to offer some relief to females during their periods.

This mini review will help researchers to design innovative female hygiene products that can relieve the discomfort caused to women during their reproductive age.

Many approaches on the economic aspect of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) have two major limitations: first, the lack of distinction between resources attributable to the management of HAI and resources absorbed by the main clinical problem for which the patient was hospitalized, and second, the lack of an adequate method for calculating the relative costs. These assume that the resources used by HAI can be determined by measuring the extra days of length of days (LOS) of infected patients versus non‐infected patients and attribute to extra‐LOS a value to the mean total cost. The aim of the article is to test a cost‐modelling method that could overcome these limitations by applying the appropriateness evaluation protocol to the medical charts of patients with hospital‐acquired symptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI) or sepsis, and by using cost‐centre accounting.

The paper explains and tests a model for calculating costs of HAIs.

The data analysis showed that it is not always true that infections protract LOS: five out of 25 sepsis cases have extra‐LOS and eight out of 25 UTI cases have extra‐LOS, while the cases of sepsis that arose in surgery ward and intensive care units and urinary tract infections in ICU are without prolongation of LOS. The data analysis also showed that, using the mean total cost, the three cases of sepsis in the general surgery and the six in the ICU did not incur costs, nor did the two cases of UTI in ICU, so that they appear to be infections at zero cost. Moreover, the weight of the cost for the bed, or for the diagnostic services, or for the pharmacological treatment, varied widely depending on the site of the HAI and the ward where the patient was hospitalized.

The method can be applied in any hospital.

Urinary incontinence is one of the most important health problems for people over 65 years of age. It is defined as involuntary and uncontrolled loss of urine. This paper aims to present a contemporary view on the effects of physiotherapeutic procedures in combating urinary incontinence. Physiotherapeutic procedures were compared: pelvic floor muscle exercises, physical therapy and biofeedback (BF) to demonstrate their effectiveness in managing urinary incontinence in the elderly.

The databases Pubmed and GoogleScholar have been searched for articles on the impact of interventions – physiotherapeutic procedures on the effectiveness of the treatment of urinary incontinence in the elderly.

Pelvic floor muscle exercises are effective in the treatment of urinary incontinence, strengthen muscle strength and improve patients' quality of life. A long-lasting, systematic and individual training program with a physiotherapist is the most effective. BF helps to intensify the therapeutic effect of exercise but also allows you to achieve good results as an independent treatment method. Positive effects are also noticeable in physical therapy, electrostimulation and magnetotherapy are very effective. Physiotherapeutic procedures have a positive effect in the treatment of urinary incontinence in the elderly. However, further research is needed to clarify the most effective methods.

This paper offers many ways to deal with urinary incontinence in the elderly using physiotherapeutic procedures, thus helping to improve the quality of life of those affected by urinary incontinence.

Severe bacterial infection is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Geographical-based demographic laboratory and clinical data are required to get a conclusion about the bacterial infection and their antibiotic susceptibility for the empiric antibiotic treatment in infants who presented with suspected infection. This study was aimed to find the most prevalent bacterial infection and antibiotic sensitivity among infants in the post-neonatal period presented at a tertiary care centre in South India.

A cross-sectional study was designed among infants (29 days to 1 year old) presented with suspected infection in the paediatric department. Infants with positive culture report were analysed for the bacteriological and antibiotic profile from the medical records. Antibiotic sensitivity was determined for the isolated bacteria according to standard procedure and data statically analysed.

Total of 218 samples (138 male and 80 female) were analysed. Most of the samples (171/218, 78.4%) were throat swab (p = 0.0247). Only one sample was cerebrospinal fluid from case of meningitis. Sample from upper RTI was major (162/218, 74.3%) with male dominance followed by stool samples from cases of diarrhoea (22/218, 10.0%). Staphylococcus aureus was the major organism identified in 46/171 (26.9 %) throat swabs. The most sensitive antibiotic against bacteria isolated from throat swab and CSF was gentamicin and cloxacillin. Netilmicin and piperacillin plus tazobactam were the sensitive antibiotics against bacteria isolated from stool, ear secretion and urine samples.

Upper RTI was the prevalent bacterial infection followed by diarrhoea in infants in the post-neonatal period. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the common organism identified in the overall report followed by E. coli and S. aureus. Community-based awareness should be provided to follow good hygiene regularly in child care. Furthermore, avoid delay in seeking treatment and provide the medicine prescribed at the right time and in the right dose to limit the morbidity and bacterial resistance.

Hospitals are responsible for protecting the well-being of their patients and staff. To do so, accurate information is needed for the hospital to make appropriate decisions and allocate resources efficiently. This study aims to describe the implementation process of a surveillance system to reduce hospital-acquired infection (HAI) reporting errors in the maternity unit of a district hospital in Rwanda.

The team adapted an evidence-based tool to identify and report HAI, provided training to staff and distributed reporting responsibilities equally between the maternity staff to improve accuracy in HAI reporting.

The intervention successfully reduced the reporting discrepancy of HAI from 6.5 to 1.9 per cent: p < 0.05.

This case study described the implementation process of a surveillance system using strategic problem solving to reduce HAI reporting errors. The results can inform hospitals in similar settings of the steps to follow to implement a cost-neutral HAI surveillance system to reduce reporting errors. The accurate data will enable the hospital to take corrective measures to address HAI in the future.

The results will inform hospitals in similar settings of steps to follow to implement a cost-neutral HAI surveillance system using the SPS approach to reduce reporting errors.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major cause of concern because of the high levels of associated morbidity, mortality, and cost. In addition, children and intensive care unit (ICU) patients are more vulnerable to these infections due to low levels of immunity. Various medical interventions and statistical process control techniques have been suggested to counter the spread of these infections and aid early detection of an infection outbreak. Methods such as hand hygiene help in the prevention of HAIs and are well-documented in the literature. This chapter demonstrates the utilization of a systems methodology to model and validate factors that contribute to the risk of HAIs in a pediatric ICU. It proposes an approach that has three unique aspects: it studies the problem of HAIs as a whole by focusing on several HAIs instead of a single type, it projects the effects of interventions onto the general patient population using the system-level model, and it studies both medical and behavioral interventions and compares their effectiveness. This methodology uses a systems modeling framework that includes simulation, risk analysis, and statistical techniques for studying interventions to reduce the transmission likelihood of HAIs.

The purpose of this paper is to briefly review the history of healthcare‐associated infection (HAI) prevention programs in the USA since the early 1970s until today, and provide suggestions how other countries (and Canada specifically) may learn from this experience to accelerate HAI prevention and patient safety improvements in their counties.

The paper is a narrative review of literature and personal experience.

US hospitals have had healthcare‐associated infection (HAI) prevention programs, including surveillance for selected HAIs, since the late 1960s‐early 1970s. Such programs began with active surveillance for HAIs based upon the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDCs) National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system. This system included standardized definitions and surveillance protocols. Since the 1980s, the CDC has developed HAI prevention guidelines, with categorized recommendations for HAI prevention. In the early 2000s, the Institute of Medicine published a report outlining the harm caused by HAIs. This led to increased attention to HAI prevention by an increasingly wide variety of organizations. The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated HAI prevention efforts. Many studies documented the failure of hospitals to fully implement evidence‐based practices. The increased attention to HAIs and their morbidity and mortality led to media reports and ultimately an initiative by the Consumer's Union for mandatory reporting of HAI rates by hospitals in all states. Subsequently, the CMS introduced decreased reimbursement for the additional costs directly related to HAIs (and other critical incidents) and linkage of reimbursement levels to hospital HAI rates. Together, mandatory reporting and reduced reimbursement for HAIs has led hospital executives to focus more attention on infection control programs to decrease HAI rates. Progress on preventing HAIs seems to be related to standardizing evidence‐based HAI prevention bundles, mandatory reporting, and paying for performance (or not paying for preventable HAI complications). Given that voluntary HAI prevention programs have existed since the 1970s, it appears that regulation, reporting, and decreased reimbursement has resulted in more rapid implementation of HAI prevention programs and improved patient safety.

The different major activities enhancing HAI prevention in the USA are outlined in an historic context.

Understanding the history of progress in hospital infection control efforts provides an essential perspective for policy makers and for the interdisciplinary team required to evaluate HAI mandatory public reporting in a comprehensive manner.