Infection Control Matters

YouTube, Monkeypox and infection prevention and control

In this weeks podcast, Brett and Phil discuss an article titled "YouTube and 2022 Monkeypox outbreak: opportunities for awareness and infection control". We discuss the opportunities and challenges of YouTube and social media with regards to infection prevention and control communication and information. Link to the article: Ortiz-Martinez Y, et al. YouTube and 2022 Monkeypox outbreak: opportunities for awareness and infection control. J Hosp Infect. 2022. https://doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2022.07.00...

Integrated, multi-specialty IPC teams - the future? With Dr David Weber

In this week's episode, Martin talks to Dr David Weber of Uniiversity Hospitals South Carolina about his hospital's integrated IPC team which includes quality improvement and behaviour specialists as well as the more traditional membership. This discussion was prompted by a recent letter to Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 1. Weber DJ, et al. A new paradigm for infection prevention programs: An integrated approach. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2022:1-4. https://doi:10.1017/ice.2022...

IPC Team Experiences during COVID

Martin catches up with Phil Russo whilst at the APSIC meeting in Singapore and we discuss a recent paper that has looked at the experiences of IPC Teams in Australia during the pandemic. What went well and what wasn't quite so good. Links to the papers discussed are here. 1. Baswa A, et al. Experience and perspectives of infection prevention staff of the COVID-19 response in Australian hospitals. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2022;11(1):77. https://doi:10.1186/s13756-022-01116-9 2. McGuinnes...

VAP in the ’too difficult’ box - could VAE be the answer? with Dr Michael Klompas

In this week's episode, Martin talks to Dr Michael Klompas, Infectious Disease physician, Hospital Epidemiologist, and Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA. We discuss the complexities of undertaking surveillance of Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and the USA approach to looking at the wider issue of Ventilator-associated Events (VAE) that removes subjectivity from the surveillance of these important complications. We also...

Hidden reservoirs contribute to plasmid-mediated transmission with Dr Kalisvar Marimuthu

In this week's episode, Brett and Martin talk to Adjunct Assistant Prof Dr Kalisvar Marimuthu, who is currently a senior consultant in Infectious Diseases at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore. We discuss his recent paper that notes that over 50% of transmissions occurring in healthcare result from plasmid and not colonal spread. Traditional IPC interventions seem to work for clonal transmission, however new thinking is required to tackle the proble...

Glove or no glove - with Dr Jon Otter

In this week's episode, Brett and Martin caught up with Jon Otter to discuss the 'Glove or no glove' campaign currently being implemented at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals in London UK. Jon has recently blogged about this ( https://reflectionsipc.com/2022/05/04/we-need-to-talk-about-gloves/ ), a blog always worth following if you like to read Jon's thoughts and musings on current issues in IPC.

Turning prevalence into incidence to determine the burden of healthcare associated infections

In this week's episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Brett Mitchell about his recent paper that estimates the burden of HCAI from a prevalence study. Papers discussed are: Lydeamore MJ, Mitchell BG, Bucknall T, Cheng AC, Russo PL, Stewardson AJ Burden of five healthcare associated infections in Australia. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 2022; 11: 69. https://aricjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13756-022-01109-8 Russo PL, Stewardson AJ, Cheng AC, Bucknall T, Mitchell BG The prevalence of ...

Are we experts? Phil, Brett and Martin mull this over

This week's podcast is a live chat recorded in Melbourne in June and features Phil Russo, Brett Mitchell and Martin Kiernan, who discuss whether we think that we are IPC experts (or not). Have a listen and make your own mind up!

Arrival of Monkeypox and will transmission paradigms change post-COVID? With Dr Deb Friedman

A/Professor Deb Friedman is the Deputy Chief Health Officer at the Department of Health Victoria, Australia. Prior to that she was the Medical Director of infection prevention control and response in Victoria, a key role in Victorias covid response. With an extensive history in infection prevention and control as an infectious diseases physician Deb has played a vital role in Victoria's COVID response. In this episode, Phil Russo chats to her about her role as DCHO and her recent involvement wit...

The New Zealand National Point Prevalance Study with Dr Sally Roberts

In this podcast Phil Russo chats with Dr Sally Roberts, Clinical Head of Microbiology at the Auckland District Health Board, Aotearoa New Zealand. She is also the National Clinical Lead for the Health Quality & Safety Commission New Zealand Infection Prevention and Control programme and recently led the recent first national point prevalent survey of healthcare associated infections across Aotearoa New Zealand. Sally tells us what led to the first ever PPS in Aotearoa New Zealand, the many c...

I-DECIDED tool

In this podcast, Brett talks to Dr Gillian Ray-Barruel from the University of Queensland and Griffith University. We talk about Gillian's development of the I-DECIDED tool - decision tool for assessment and management of all invasive devices in the hospital setting. In the podcast, Gillian mentioned she was happy to be contacted. The link to the paper can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35439078/...

Using whole genome sequencing as part of an infection control service

In this podcast, Martin and Brett talk to Trish Hurst, Belinda Henderson and Dr Patrick Harris about how WGS is being used in two major Australian hospitals. We here about how it started, how is works now and the potential of WGS in real-time for infection control services. The discussion is centred around this pre-print publication: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.02.22273921v1 "Clinical implementation of routine whole-genome sequencing for hospital infection control of multi-dr...

What affects environmental contamination with C. difficile? New papers with Dr David Weber

In this week's episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr David Weber, Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina about recent papers on environmental contamination with Clostridioides difficile. We discuss antibiotics and the effect of asymptomatic carriage on risk of transmission. The papers we discuss are: Warren BG, et al. The Impact of Infection Versus Colonization on Clostridioides difficile Environmental Contamination in Hospitalized Patients With Diar...

Respiratory protection preparedness in critical care healthcare workers & facial hair

In this podcast, Brett Mitchell talks to Professor Daryl Williams about respirators and facial hair. So much to learn, so much more to know. The talk was based on a paper published in Infection Disease and Health. The article link: https://www.idhjournal.com.au/article/S2468-0451(22)00003-7/fulltext Prof Daryl Williams is the Director of the Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Management. His clinical and research interests include neuro-anaesthesia, resuscitation, trauma medicine and advanced ai...

Reflecting on a contact precautions talk at ECCMID with Dr Gonzalo Bearman

After his excellent session atthe ECCMID meeting, Martin talks to Dr Gonzalo Bearman (Chief of Infectious Diseases at VCU Health, Editor in Chief of Antimicrobial Stewardship Healthcare Epidemiology (ASHE), footballer and drummer) about the removal of contact precautions for endemic organisms like MRSA and VRE and how evidence can change practice. Challenges of applying evidence from one setting to another are also discussed. Some of Gonzalo's papers on this subject are here: Bearman GM, et al. ...

Environmental cleaning & the role of patient service assistants

In this podcast, Brett Mitchell talks to A/Professor Stéphane Bouchoucha about a recent article exploring the role of patient service assistants in environmental cleaning. The article is published in Infection Disease and Health. https://www.idhjournal.com.au/article/S2468-0451(22)00006-2/fulltext Dr Stéphane Bouchoucha is an Associate Professor and Associate Head of School (International) in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Deakin University. He is also a researcher based in Deakin’s Inst...

50 Shades of Grey - Risk assessment and communicating decisions with Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green

Measuring cleaning effectivness and improvement with Dr Phil Carling from SHEA Spring 2022

In this episode recorded at the 2022 SHEA spring meeting, Martin Kiernan discussed measuring the effectiveness of cleaning with Dr Phil Carling from Boston. We also discuss how data used from environmental monitoring can be used to promote improvements in practice. Some of Phil's key papers in this area are here: Carling PC, et al. Improved cleaning of patient rooms using a new targeting method. Clin Infect Dis. 2006;42(3):385-388. https://doi.org/10.1086/499361 Carling PC, et al. Improving envi...

CO2 monitoring to find hospital areas with poor ventilation - Poster at ECCMID 2022 with Sharon Bamber

In this episode recorded at the ECCMID 2022 meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, Martin Kiernan talks to poster abstract presenter Clinical Scientist Sharon Bamber about her organisation's use of small, portable and inexpensive CO2 monitors (Airvisual Pro iQAir - other monotors are available..) that measure air quality. Through the use of these, the organisation (Wirral University Hospital Trust in the UK) was able to determine which areas of the organisation were poorly ventilated based on aur quality,...

Human and financial cost of healthcare-associated pneumonia with Dr Dian Baker at the 2022 SHEA Spring Meeting

In this episode recorded at the 2022 SHEA Sprong meeting, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Dian Baker, Emeritus Professor at California State University, Sacramento, USA. Dian has been a passionate advocate for action against healthcare-onset non-ventilator associated pneumonia (nVHAP) for over 12 years and as ever, it was a personal experience that motivated her to look into this important topic. Apart from the human cost, nVHAP is responsible for use of antibiotics and means huge costs for healthcar...

N95 Mask use for respiratory protection - a discussion with Dr Michael Klompas at the SHEA Spring Meeting

Martin Kiernan managaed to grab a few minutes with Dr Michael Klompas, ID Physicial at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, at the SHEA Spring meeting. We discuss the use of N95 masks and whether in a time of Omicron increased prevalence they should be used in all healthcare settins and not just for suspected or confirmed cases of COVID. Some of Dr Klompas' recent papers are here: 1. Klompas M, et al. Universal Use of N95 Respirators in Healthca...

Implementation of patient warming to prevent SSI - How hard can it be? With Prof. Judith Tanner

In this week's episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Judith Tanner, Professor of Adult Nursing at the University of Nottingham, UK about a paper in which a mixed methods approach to examining potential and actual barriers to implementation of patient warming were examined. Papers discussed during the session include: Tanner J, et al. Using a comprehensive audit to identify local context prior to care bundle design and implementation for inadvertent perioperative hypothermia in colorectal surgery. ...

Surgical Site Infection (SSI) prevention with Charles Edmiston

In this episode, Phil Russo flies solo and discusses strategies for prevention of SSI with Professor Charles Edmiston, Emeritus Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Chuck has a longstanding interest in SSI prevention and a few of his papers are listed below. As ever, 'compliance' with interventions is a key issue. Parvizi, J., S. Barnes, N. Shohat & C. E. Edmiston, Jr. (2017) Environment of care: Is it time to reassess microbial contamination of the operating room air ...

Vaccine hesitancy and the role of social scientists in infection prevention with A/Professor Holly Seale

In this episode Brett Mitchell talks to Associate Professor Holly Seale about the role of social scientists, vaccine hesitancy, booster vaccines and the potential implications for the next influenza season. Holly is an infectious disease social scientist at the School of Population Health at the University of New South Wales in Australia. She has over 15 years of experience in undertaking social science research focused on improving confidence and engagement of different at-risk groups with immu...

Environmental decontamination reduces healthcare infections - a systematic review with Alexandra Peters

In this week's episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Alexandra Peters, who works in Prof. Didier Pittet's group at the University Hospitals of Geneva and with a WHO Collaborating Centre. We discuss a new systematic review that demonstrates that there is significant evidence that environmental decontamination reduces healthcare-associated infections and colonisations and also progress on a new Healthcare Environmentsl Hygiene (HEH) self-assessment tool, the results of which will shortly be published. ...

Infection Prevention Team Staffing levels - Less (staff) is more (infections)?

In this week's episode, Brett Mitchell and Martin Kiernan use a recent paper published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology to start a discussion about an relationship between IPC Team staffiing levels and levels of healthcare-associated infections. How are staffing levels set and is it just a number or is there more to it? The papers that we discuss are listed below. 1. Clifford RJ, Newhart D, Laguio-Vila MR, Gutowski JL, Bronstein MZ, Lesho EP. Infection preventionist staffing levels...

Could a virtual Infection Prevention Service provide support in middle and low income countries? With Prof Gonzalo Bearman

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Professor Gonzalo Bearman, Chair, Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiologist/Medical Director of VCU Healthcare and the Richard P. Wenzel Professor of Internal Medicine at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (full CV here) Following on from the increase in virtual working due to the pandemic, we discuss the potential for providing healthcare facilities in low and middle income countries with virtual support and consulting. ...

Hand drying - a lot of hot air?

In this episode, Brett Mitchell and Martin Kiernan discuss methods of drying hands after hand hygiene has been performed, with a focus on hand dryers versus paper towel. Personal details about Martin's habits are disclosed as we mull this over and present some papers. Papers presented include: 1. Suen, L. K., Lung, V. Y., Boost, M. V., Au-Yeung, C. H., & Siu, G. K. (2019). Microbiological evaluation of different hand drying methods for removing bacteria from washed hands. Scientific reports ...

WHO Global Outreach Alert and Response Network (GOARN) with Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman

The WHO Global Outreach Alert and Response Network (GOARN) is the topic for this podcast. We talk with Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman about the network, what is does and how to get involved. Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman is Senior Lecturer and Program Advisor for the Griffith University and is Board Director of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control. She is also a Senior Faculty and Focal Point for the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network of the World Health Organization. The webli...

Mouth Care Matters - Oral hygiene & healthcare associated infection

In this episode we return to another ICM favourite topic, healthcare-associated pneumonia that is not device-associated. Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Mark Garvey, Director of Infection Prevention and Helen Woodall, Senior Dental Nurse, both of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust about the 'Mouth Care Matters' initiative. Education of registered nurses and healthcare assistants was a key part of the strategy, which ultimately resulted in a significant reduction in infections. Note that in Eng...