ABSTRACT
The nightingale’s lament exposes the bird to attack by predators. Researchers and those working for healthcare providers assiduously present their evidence-based research to the world, embellished with their anguish. Healthcare professionals, including infection control professionals (ICPs), use peer-reviewed journals to convey their desire to improve outcomes for patients. Considerable progress is being made in infection prevention with the introduction of internationally accepted best practices. A technical answer is that alcohol on hands kills superficial transient bacteria. Evidence-based research in peer-reviewed journals in the medical, health and social care literature is the basis on which best practices are based. ICPs have helped compile the published data as they seek to steadily improve outcomes. The threat to ICPs is the very evidence-based research they help to compile and publish. For years ICPs and others have developed new approaches and products to break healthcare-associated infection cycles.
