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It's easy, fun and educational. Just find your November 2008 Product Showcase and point your Web browser to our contest Web page. You'll need your subscriber number (located on your mailing label) and a copy of November's Product Showcase (packaged with November's issue) to participate. The deadline for contest entries is Dec. 5.

Some hospitals are reporting a decline in patient admissions for elective procedures as American consumers look for ways to cut or delay unnecessary expenditures in the midst of an economic downturn, the New York Times reports.

Knee replacements, hernia repairs and weight-loss surgeries are among the services belt-tightening patients are more likely to forgo during a recession, according to the Times. They're also some of the biggest moneymakers for hospitals, which rely on the revenues from these procedures to offset charity care and unpaid bills. While some hospitals are already noticing a decline in admissions from paying patients, the trend may get worse in the coming months as more Americans are in danger of losing their jobs and health insurance.

"It's safe to say hospitals are no longer recession-proof," David A. Rock, a healthcare consultant in New York, tells the Times. He predicts that hospitals may begin to scale back services, such as bariatric surgery, that require patients to spend large sums of money out of pocket.

Even hospitals that haven't seen declines are already taking steps to stay afloat, such as cutting administrative jobs, consolidating facilities and halting capital expenditures, reports the Times.

Irene Tskitas

More than one out of 100 hospital patients is infected with or colonized by Clostridium difficile, a prevalence that's at least 6.5 times greater than previous estimates, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

APIC's prevalence study, compiled from data collected by the association's 12,000 members, highlights the fact that it's not just hospitals which need to be on the lookout for C. diff. More than half of the patients who tested positive for the bacteria were admitted to the hospital already carrying it, says the study, which suggests it was acquired during a previous visit to a healthcare facility.

"Healthcare providers must intensify efforts toward developing prevention strategies that can be consistently applied across the continuum of care," says APIC chief executive officer Kathy L. Warye.

For the study, association members representing 648 hospitals in 47 states took one-day snapshots of the C. diff patients in their facilities. They found that 13 out of every 1,000 patients were infected with the pathogen, equaling approximately 7,000 patients nationwide on any given day. About 300 of those patients will die from the infection, according to the study.

Kent Steinriede

Nearly four out of five, or 79 percent, of the 73 respondents to last week's online poll said they plan to celebrate the holidays with their staff by throwing a party. Another 10 percent said they give staff a holiday bonus, 4 percent offer extra time off and 4 percent give gifts.

This week's poll question asks what kind of raise you expect to receive this year. You'll find it on the lower right hand side of our front page.

Dan O'Connor