Glossary and References

Glossary

Ambulatory Surgical Center, Ambulatory Surgical Facility:

Healthcare facilities that offer surgical services only to patients who go home the same day after their operation.

Central Line:

A long tube inserted in the neck, chest, arm or leg that ends near the heart. They are used to take blood samples, measure blood pressure, and give medications.

Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection:

An infection that spreads through the blood from its origin on a central line.

Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease:

An intestinal illness caused by toxins that are produced by a specific type of bacteria named Clostridium difficile.

Community Acquired Infection:

An infection that occurs without exposure in recent weeks or months to the risk from care in a hospital, clinic, doctor’s office, or home-care treatment by a health professional.

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft:

A surgical replacement for clogged blood vessels located near the heart.

Cross-infection:

Infection of a patient with bacteria from another person.

Extended-spectrum ß-lactamase:

Beta-lactamases are enzymes that destroy certain antibiotics; ESBLs are bacteria that have acquired these enzymes and become resistant to those drugs.

Healthcare Associated Infection:

An infection that develops during or soon after care in a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office, or after a home-visit by a health professional.

Incidence Rate:

The proportion of a population that has a particular condition that began during any given time period the rate covers. It is measured one of three ways: attack rate, incidence density rate, or cumulative incidence risk.<

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Infection Control Practitioner, Infection Control Professional, Infection Preventionist:

A healthcare worker who specializes in infection surveillance, control and prevention.

Intensive Care Unit:

The intensive care unit or ICU, is an area in the hospital where the most intensive monitoring and advanced support are provided to critically ill patients.

Long Term Acute Care Facility or Hospital:

A healthcare facility authorized by the Department of Social and Health Services to specialize in twenty-four hour inpatient medical and rehabilitative care for patients who have medically complex needs. These patients typically are bed-bound, ventilator-dependent and require daily assessment by a physician. These facilities are not identical with chronic care, skilled nursing, acute rehabilitation or short-term acute-care hospital facilities.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus:

A type of bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus that has become resistant to a group of powerful drugs. Not all Staphylococcus aureus is resistant to these drugs, and sensitive strains are called MSSA.

Multidrug-resistant Organism:

Bacteria that have become unusually resistant to many of the drugs that used to be effective against them.

Nosocomial:

Indicates a hospital-associated or hospital-acquired condition, typically used in the context of nosocomial infections.

Prevalence Rate:

The proportion of a population that has a particular condition at any given time, whether as a new or chronic case.

Sensitivity:

An epidemiologic measure of how often people who do have some condition are correctly identified by a test as having that condition (“true positives”) instead of as a “false negative” test result.

Specificity:

An epidemiologic measure of how often people who do not have some condition are correctly identified by a test as not having that condition (“true negatives”) instead of as a “false positive” test result.

Surgical Site Infection:

An infection of a surgical wound or the organ spaces near the wound.

Ventilator:

A device that pumps air into the lungs of patients who cannot breathe well on their own.

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia:

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. Pneumonia that develops after a patient is placed on a ventilator is called a ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Related Sites

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.:

A voluntary membership organization representing members of this profession.

Baldrige National Quality Program:

An American program, with rigorous standards, to recognize organizations that achieve excellence in seven key aspects of providing outstanding quality products or services.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

One of the foremost national agencies in the world that serves to support and advance public health. It provides disease surveillance, reference laboratory, field investigation and educational service expertise throughout the United States and abroad.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

A federal agency that runs the national health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.:

An independent testing board that certifies infection control professionals by formal examination.

Department of Health:

Washington State’s public health agency, providing regulation, inspection, licensing, emergency response, education and other programs to measure and protect the health of our residents. The Department of Health works to protect and improve the health of people in Washington State.

Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee:

A panel of experts in the field who advise the CDC on matters of healthcare associated infection surveillance, control, and prevention.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement:

A private organization devoted to improving the safety, effectiveness and quality of healthcare services globally. It advocates, educates, draws leaders together and initiates demonstration projects.

International Organization for Standardization:

An organization that accredits hospitals and other businesses based on their meeting published standards.

National Healthcare Safety Network:

A secure computer system run by CDC for hospitals throughout America to share information about their healthcare associated infection rates.

National Quality Forum:

A national organization through which people from different industries work with experts to develop voluntary standards intended to improve healthcare quality.

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America:

A voluntary membership organization representing members of this profession who have a medical degree or a graduate degree related to epidemiology.

The Joint Commission:

An organization that accredits hospitals and other healthcare facilities based on their meeting published standards.