OTHER CLINICAL INFECTION CONTROL ISSUES
Patient bathing — Patient bathing with chlorhexidine gluconate (an antiseptic agent with broad-spectrum activity against many organisms) has been demonstrated to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired bloodstream infections and the risk of colonization with drug-resistant organisms among patients in intensive care units and bone marrow transplant units [50-56]. This is discussed in detail separately. (See "Infections and antimicrobial resistance in the intensive care unit: Epidemiology and prevention", section on 'Decolonization/patient bathing'.)
Data on the efficacy of routine patient bathing outside of intensive care unit and bone marrow transplant units are limited; further study is needed.