We performed a prospective prevalence survey of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage in the nares of 50 medical and 50 surgical house officers. None of the 50 internal medicine house officers and 5 of the 50 general surgery house officers had MRSA nares colonization (P = .03). None of the MRSA isolates recovered from the surgical house officers were identical.

In this controlled before-and-after study involving 19 departments in a university-affiliated hospital, a single 1-hour educational session delivered by an infectious diseases physician reduced the use of inappropriate antibiotic therapy for inpatients with positive urine culture Results. Further study is warranted to assess the long-term effect of this intervention.

Trends in pediatric antibacterial use were examined in 20 academic health centers during the period 2002-2007. There was a significant increase in the use of linezolid (P < .001) and of macrolides (P = .001) and a significant decrease in the use of aminoglycosides (P < .001) and of first-generation cephalosporins (P < .001).

This randomized, controlled trial involving 316 patients in the home setting found no difference in the rate of phlebitis and/or occlusion among patients for whom a peripheral intravenous catheter was routinely resited at 72-96 hours and those for whom it was replaced only on clinical indication (76.8 events per 1,000 device-days vs 87.3 events per 1,000 device-days; P = .71). There were no bloodstream infections.

We compared strategies to increase the rate of influenza vaccination. A written standing-orders policy that enabled nurses to vaccinate patients was compared with augmentation of the standing-orders policy with either electronic opt-out orders for physicians or electronic reminders to nurses. Use of opt-out orders yielded the highest vaccination rate (12% of patients), followed by use of nursing reminders (6%); use of the standing-orders policy alone was ineffective.