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The article examines the severity of the seasonal influenza epidemic in Utah from 2016 to 2018. It provides important health data from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics such as health visits due to flu, number of people who had the illness and population of patients who were hospitalized because of influenza through time. It discusses the partnership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Utah Department of Health to address the medical situation.

The article presents a study that characterizes clinical findings and demographic association with intensive care unit (ICU) admission due to novel 2009 A(H1N1). Researchers conducted an observational study from May 19 to June 30, 2009 of inpatient mortality, descriptive clinical course, demographic characteristics, and financial data of an ICU cohort in Salt Lake County, Utah. The study concludes that obese patients were primarily susceptible to serious diseases due to novel A(H1N1) infection.

Background Fragmented communication of patients' infectious status across healthcare networks impact regional spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO). This study aimed to quantify gaps in communication of patient MDRO status across Utah healthcare facilities and to identify opportunities to improve. Methods This is a cross-sectional retrospective mixed-methods study of patient transfers from three purposively selected healthcare facilities: an acute care (ACF), long-term acute care (LTAC), and skilled-nursing facility (SNF). Patients with known MDRO transferred out of these facilities over the previous week were identified in bimonthly samples spanning 2 months. Infection preventionists and admission nurses from facilities receiving these patients were interviewed. Results Of 293 patients transferred to another facility, 13% (n = 38) had an active infection or colonization with an MDRO. These 38 patients were transferred to 26 healthcare facilities within the state (4 ACF, 3 LTAC, 19 SNF). Gram-negative organisms with resistance to a carbapenem accounted for 15.8% of those transferred with an MDRO. There was no documentation of the state infection control transfer form (ICTF) at the sending facility for 68.5% of MDRO patient transfers. Of 22 admitting nurses interviewed, 19 (86.4%) did not receive an ICTF, 6 (27.3%) received no communication regarding patients' infectious status, and 11 (50%) had to contact the sending facility for additional information. Moreover, 18.2% of patients had not been put on appropriate precautions. Several nurses expressed confusion with MDRO definitions and lack of guidance regarding care of MDRO colonized patients. Among infection preventionists asked about general MDRO transfers (n = 26), 26.9% reported that communication on infectious status of MDRO patients was received in under 40% of incoming transfers. When asked about a planned statewide MDRO registry, 80.8% felt that such a system would be actively searched at their facility, and 96.2% felt that a system that pushes out alerts would be useful. Conclusion Given the widespread gaps in communication of infectious status of patients with MDROs transferred across the healthcare facilities sampled, efforts to standardize and improve MDRO communication in the region is warranted. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coordinated approaches are needed to optimally control the spread of resistant organisms across facilities that share patients. Our goal was to understand social tensions that may inhibit public health-led community partnerships and to identify factors for success., Methods: A collaborative to control transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) was formed in Utah following a regional outbreak, with members from public health, hospitals, laboratories, and transport services. We conducted and qualitatively analyzed 3 focus groups among collaborative stakeholders to discuss their experiences., Results: Via 3 focus groups and additional interviews, we found the collaborative made institutional tensions between stakeholders explicit. We identified 4 factors that facilitated the ability to overcome institutional tensions: public health leadership to establish a safe space, creation of cross-institutional group identity with mutual respect and support, standardized communication, and group cohesiveness through shared mental models of interdependencies., Discussion: Stakeholders' concerns regarding being blamed for MDRO transmission versus contributing to shared health care community MDRO control efforts resembled a "prisoner's dilemma." Four social components mitigated tensions and facilitated cooperation in this public health-led collaborative., Conclusions: This study identified strategies that public health-led coordinated approaches can use to facilitate cooperation., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.)