SynthesisSystematic reviews2015
Use of ward closure to control outbreaks among hospitalized patients in acute care settings: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Systematic reviews, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Associations of infection control measures and norovirus outbreak outcomes in healthcare settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Expert review of anti-infective therapy · 2022Pooled it
- Prospective Whole-Genome Sequencing to Identify Bacterial Transmission and Its Modifiers in Neonates.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- The NOSTRA model: Coherent estimation of infection sources in the case of possible nosocomial transmission.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- The genomic configurations driving antimicrobial resistance and virulence in colistin resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa from an Egyptian Tertiary Oncology Hospital.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Multidrug-Resistant Organisms: The Silent Plight of Burn Patients.Journal of burn care & research : official publication of the American Burn Association · 2024Review
- Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in wastewater of tertiary care hospitals correlates with increasing case burden and outbreaks.Journal of medical virology · 2023Article
- Antibiotic resistance: bioinformatics-based understanding as a functional strategy for drug design.RSC advances · 2020Review
- Controlling infectious disease outbreaks in low-income and middle-income countries.Current treatment options in infectious diseases · 2018Review
- Bacterial Infections After Burn Injuries: Impact of Multidrug Resistance.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2017Review
- Whole-Genome Sequencing of Bacterial Pathogens: the Future of Nosocomial Outbreak Analysis.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2017Review
- Identifying and removing duplicate records from systematic review searches.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThough often used to control outbreaks, the efficacy of ward closure is unclear. This systematic review sought to identify studies defining and describing ward closure in outbreak control and to determine impact of ward closure as an intervention on outbreak containment.
methodsWe searched these databases with no language restrictions: MEDLINE, 1946 to 7 July 2014; EMBASE, 1974 to 7 July 2014; CINAHL, 1937 to 8 July 2014; and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2005 to May 2014. We also searched the following: IndMED; LILACS; reference lists from retrieved articles; conference proceedings; and websites of the CDCP, the ICID, and the WHO. We included studies of patients hospitalized in acute care facilities; used ward closure as a control measure; used other control measures; and discussed control of the outbreak(s) under investigation. A component approach was used to assess study quality.
resultsWe included 97 English and non-English observational studies. None included a controlled comparison between ward closure and other interventions. We found that ward closure was often used as part of a bundle of interventions but could not determine its direct impact separate from all the other interventions whether used in parallel or in sequence with other interventions. We also found no universal definition of ward closure which was widely accepted.
conclusionsWith no published controlled studies identified, ward closure for control of outbreaks remains an intervention that is not evidence based and healthcare personnel will need to continue to balance the competing risks associated with its use, taking into consideration the nature of the outbreak, the type of pathogen and its virulence, mode of transmission, and the setting in which it occurs. Our review has identified a major research gap in this area.
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Registered trials
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