Contact precautions are essential to preventing the spread of health care–associated infections. Health care workers visit patients on contact precautions less often, and this has raised concerns about reduced vigilance increasing the risk of adverse events. This case-control study found that patients on contact precautions were actually less likely to experience noninfectious adverse events, allaying concerns about unintended consequences.

Glove and gown precautions are a cornerstone of infection control in hospital settings. Prior studies have shown that patients under infection control precautions are more likely to experience adverse events, presumably due to fewer observations by providers, for whom entering isolation rooms requires time and effort. This cluster randomized trial examined whether patients in intensive care units that employed universal glove and gown precautions (contact precautions on all patients) experienced more adverse events (as measured by the IHI Global Trigger Tool) than those in units with standard precautions (contact precautions only for patients known to be infected or colonized with certain organisms). Rates of adverse events were similar in units with universal gown and glove precautions and those with standard precautions. These results suggest that universal glove and gown precautions are safe enough to test as an infection control strategy, though their overall efficacy remains uncertain.

This study found that patients with chronic kidney disease experienced more hospital adverse events as measured by AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs). Similar to past research, the findings highlight the potential for specific preventive strategies that may benefit this patient population.