New Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America is offering access to the new
Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults
SHEA/IDSA
ICHE May 2010

This guideline is designed to improve the diagnosis and management of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in adult patients. A case of CDI is defined by the presence of symptoms (usually diarrhea) and either a stool test positive for C. difficile toxins or toxigenic C. difficile, or colonoscopic or histopathologic findings revealing pseudomembranous colitis. In addition to diagnosis and management, recommended methods of infection control and environmental management of the pathogen are presented. The recommendations are based on the best available evidence and practices, as determined by a joint Expert Panel appointed by SHEA and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) (the SHEA‐IDSA Expert Panel). The use of these guidelines can be impacted by the size of the institution and the resources, both financial and laboratory, available in the particular clinical setting.

MediLexicon

MediLexicon.com has the world's largest online database of pharmaceutical and medical abbreviations - over 230,000 and growing. Updated daily to include new acronyms and abbreviations and their meanings. The site is free to use, allowing people to instantly look up meanings for acronyms and abbreviations from the fields of medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology, agrochemicals, healthcare, Pharmaceutical Companies, Medical Associations and Hospitals.

Medical Abbreviations
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MedicalSpanish.com

MedicalSpanish.com provides both courses for purchase and free resources.

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Clinical Guidelines from National Guideline Clearinghouse

National Guideline Clearinghouse

The National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC) is a comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The NGC mission is to provide physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation and use.

Browse

» Disease / Condition

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MRSA Found in 4% of Healthcare Workers

According to Medscape Medical News, approximately 4% of healthcare workers tested positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a large screening effort, a new analysis reports.

Carlos Guerra, MD, from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, presented the findings here at the Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections 2010.

According to Kerri A. Thom, MD, MS, assistant professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine from the University of Maryland in Baltimore, other studies have shown a similar rate of MRSA carriage in healthcare workers.

Dr. Thom emphasized that all healthcare workers should practice Standard Precautions when caring for patients. "By following these guidelines, healthcare workers are protecting both themselves and their patients from the transmission of potential pathogens."

AuntMinnie.com: Radiology News, Education and Forum

AuntMinnie.com provides a forum for radiologists, business managers, technologists, members of organized medicine, and industry to meet, transact, research, and collaborate on topics within the field of radiology with the ease and speed that only the Internet can provide. Real-time radiology-specific news Case of the Day and Teaching Files Focused topics digital communities Discussion groups Comprehensive buyer''s guide Medical imaging bookstore OnLine CMe/CE Conference Calendar User-controlled eNewsletters

Swine Flu Clinical Info from DynaMed

DynaMed is providing Swine Flu Clinical Info free of charge as a public service. Due to Pandemic H1N1 Influenza (formerly known as Swine Flu) and concerns about the 2009/2010 flu season, the EBSCO Publishing Medical and Nursing editors of DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™ (NRC) and Patient Education Reference Center™ (PERC) have made key influenza information from these resources freely available to health care providers worldwide. The information is designed to inform patients and their families and provide information to clinicians to help them with H1N1 diagnosis and H1N1 treatment by making up-to-date diagnosis and treatment information available. The resources being made available will also provide up-to-date information about the H1N1 vaccine.

American Lab Professionals Week April 18-24, 2010

National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (NMLPW) is an annual celebration of the medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in every aspect of health care.

NMLPW is a chance for medical laboratory personnel to celebrate their professionalism and be recognized for their efforts. Often, they use this time to inform and educate medical colleagues and the public about the medical laboratory. Since laboratorians often work behind the scenes, few people know much about the critical testing they perform every day.

Lab Professionals Week is held annually during the last full week of April. The next Lab Professionals Week will be held April 18-24, 2010.

LabCE free Quiz Game

The LabCE Quiz Game is a free, randomized question bank that tests your clinical laboratory science knowledge. It's a way to review for boards, brush up on your laboratory knowledge, and challenge yourself.

Questions come from clinical laboratory science topics, including lab safety, microbiology, hematology, body fluids, HIPAA privacy, Medicare compliance, medical error prevention, quality control, and more. Each question is worth between 1 and 100 points, depending on difficulty. The more questions you answer, the more points you'll earn. But if you miss five questions, the game's over! Don't worry, you can play as many times as you like.

Registration is required.

Ultrasound Resources

The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine has a community forum with groups on different specialities.

Practice Guidelines

CME from Journal of Ultrasound Medicine
(Registration and fee required for credit)

Grant Opportunities

Nutrition Resources from Abbott Pharmaceuticals

Abbott Pharmaceuticals has a collection of articles and links to nutrition guidelines.

Articles
Topics such as:

Approach to Nutritional Support

Nutritional Aspects of Specific Disease States

Perinatal Nutrition

Physiology and Pathophysiology

Clinical Tools

Guidelines

MT Desk Style Guide and Reference

The Medical Transcription Desk (MT Desk) Style Guide and Reference is designed to be a style guide for medical transcriptionists, healthcare documentation specialists and health information managers. On completion, this wiki style guide will be compatible with the current accepted medical transcription style guide but will be dynamically updated, incorporate the most recent information, pictures and illustrations, and comments from the medical transcription and health information community.

How to use the MT Desk Style Guide and Reference.

Grammar, Usage and Style

Medical Terminology

Sample Reports

Common Errors

Patient Education Search Engine

Check out this custom search engine for Patient Education Handouts by David Rothman. This (recently re-created) Custom Search Engine searches authoritative and trusted consumer health information and patient education resources recommended by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and/or by CAPHIS (the Consumer and Patient Health Information Section of the Medical Library Association).

Consumer Health and Patient Education Information Search Engine