Name: Device-associated and healthcare-associated infection — branching viva
Creator: MedVellum
Published: 2026-07-12

Device-associated and healthcare-associated infection — branching viva

A branching structured oral following one child with a suspected central-line-associated bloodstream infection, from surveillance definition and recognition through cultures, empiric therapy, the line-removal decision, antimicrobial de-escalation, a C. difficile complication, and a unit-level outbreak reflection.

branching clinical structured oral4 min readVerification in progress

Prompt

A 9-year-old boy with a long-term central venous catheter for parenteral nutrition is admitted with fever and rigors during a line flush. The examiner releases information in stages. The candidate must define the surveillance syndrome, take cultures and give empiric therapy, decide on the line, de-escalate to the organism, manage a complication, and reflect on the prevention bundle.

Station status

This is one MedVellum formative branching structured oral. The prompts and performance descriptions are educational feedback tools; they are not an official college examination format, mark allocation, pass score or reproduced station. The viva assesses surveillance definition, recognition, cultures and empiric therapy, the line-removal decision, de-escalation, complication management, and prevention-bundle reasoning. [3] [12]

Paediatrics Fellowship Pro

You have read the opening of this viva. The complete unit — every section and its primary-source references — is part of the Paediatrics Fellowship fellowship atlas.

References6Show ledger

[1]Hsu HE, Mathew R, Wang R, et al. Health Care-Associated Infections Among Critically Ill Children in the US, 2013-2018. JAMA pediatrics, 2020.PMID 33017011
[2]Weiner-Lastinger LM, Abner S, Benin AL, et al. Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens associated with pediatric healthcare-associated infections: Summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network, 2015-2017. Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 2020.PMID 31762428
[3]O'Grady NP, Alexander M, Burns LA, et al. Guidelines for the prevention of intravascular catheter-related infections. American journal of infection control, 2011.PMID 21511081
[4]Miller MR, Griswold M, Harris JM 2nd, et al. Decreasing PICU catheter-associated bloodstream infections: NACHRI's quality transformation efforts. Pediatrics, 2010.PMID 20064860
[9]McDonald LC, Gerding DN, Johnson S, et al. Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults and Children: 2017 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2018.PMID 29562266
[12]Yokoe DS, Anderson DJ, Berenholtz SM, et al. A compendium of strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals: 2014 updates. Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 2014.PMID 25026611