Over the years, the nursing practice has developed mechanisms towards improving service delivery through research and management training. The fight against Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) is one area that continuously attracts a lot of concern in nursing. Indwelling urinary catheters (IUC) have been the best option in addressing CAUTI (Wilde et al., 2013). But this has resulted in more health risks and compromised service delivery among nurses, calling for new ways to either…

A biofilm is a layer consisting of various combinations of many different organisms, autotrophic and heterotrophic. They are dense, organized communities of cells, encased in a self-produced slime. The bacteria grow together in water like atmospheres, attaching to a solid surface, forming a small ecosystem. Biofilms are known as a micro-environment, a micro-habitat, or a slime matrix. They help decompose dead organisms and recycle carbon and nutrients. Biofilms are formed on almost any surface…

Healthcare-Associated Infection Healthcare-associated infection has been an issue in many facilities throughout the years. It is a health risk to patients and very costly to the facilities. In order to improve and make changes to the amount of infections that the facilities have you must first change the staff and facilities view of preventing healthcare-associated infection. Healthcare-associated infection requires both a change in behavior and in the organization’s…

A Comparison of Current Biofilm Prevention Methods and Investigation of Potential Treatments Katie Johnson Abstract: The topic of biofilm formation and prevention has intrigued researchers for years. Biofilms can lead to serious infections, and are extremely difficult to treat after they have already formed. Due to this difficulty, prevention rather than treatment has become a focal point of biofilm research. Different materials could be tested for potential antimicrobial properties, which, if…

urinary tract infections represent the most common type of nosocomial infections. Often, the ability of bacteria to both establish and maintain these infections are directly related to biofilm formation on indwelling devices or within the urinary tract itself (30). Enterococci (especially E. faecalis) are one of the main causative agents of urinary tract infection and Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) besides gram-negative pathogens (31, 32). In these infections Biofilm provides a…

Environment on Biofilm Growth A. Introduction After existing for over 3 billion years, biofilms have provided both a number of benefits and complications to living organisms. However, observing how these microorganisms interact with their environments and their own communities could help better understand the beneficial and harmful roles of biofilm formation. From the article, Bacterial Biofilms: From The Natural Environment to Infectious Diseases, Stoodley defines biofilm formation as a structured…

underneath conventional GIC restorations. It is speculated that the chlorhexidine released from the material can persist in the mouth by binding to the pellicle and saliva, creating a bacteriostatic milieu, which delays bacterial colonization and biofilm formation as observed by Auschill TM et al. [7] in 2005. Lactobacillus has been found to be the most resistant oral microorganism to the inhibitory effects of GIC (Herrera M. et al. 1999) [8]. Botelho et al. [9 ] in their study claimed Cetrimide-GIC combination…

Abstract: Biofilm formation poses a universal complication to all implantable prostheses or devices in the human body. Medical costs rise substantially with biofilm formation and may lead to further life-threatening conditions. Researchers are looking into the anti-bacterial efficacy of different surface-coatings such as metals, polymers, nanoparticle texturing, and composites of each. The method through which bacteria adhere and/or aggregate is different across each surface-coating. While each…

Before the discovery of antibiotics, research was being conducted on the use of bacteriophages for use in treating infections.16 Among the most abundant type of organism on the planet, bacteriophages present a solution that is species-specific and has less side effects than antibiotics, since eukaryotic cells lack the phage receptors needed for a phage infection.16 Of the two types of bacteriophages, lytic and lysogenic, lytic phages are of great interest due to the fact that they replicate in…

resistance and biofilm formation (1).Biofilm is a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix adherent to an inert or living surface. Biofilmproducing organisms are more antimicrobial resistant than organisms without biofilm. In some extreme cases, the concentrations of antimicrobials required to kill biofilm positive organisms can be three- to four-fold higher than for biofilm negative bacteria, depending on the species and drug combination (2). Biofilms have great…