Infection Control Matters

We are a group of professionals who work in the field of infectious disease and infection prevention and control. In this podcast series, we discuss new research and issues on the topic of infection prevention and control. We will pick new papers of interest and will discuss them, often with an author of the paper who can give us some insights into the research that go beyond the written paper. Authors will include nurses, doctors, academics, clinicians, administrators and leaders. We should stress that all of our comments relate to our own opinions and that they do not necessarily reflect those institutions and employers that we relate to. We welcome comment, suggestions and ideas. Please consider subscribing for updates and to find collections of topic specific podcasts at www.infectioncontrolmatters.com

Listen on:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Podbean App
  • Spotify
  • Amazon Music
  • TuneIn + Alexa
  • PlayerFM
  • Listen Notes
  • Podchaser

Episodes

Wednesday Mar 19, 2025

In this episode, Brett and Martin chat with Dr. Jessica Schults and Dr. Sally Havers about a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. The study used a modified Delphi process to identify key healthcare infection surveillance priorities in Queensland.
Through a two-round methodology, infection prevention experts identified 13 key infection measures for a standardized minimum dataset. This dataset aims to improve statewide HAI surveillance, enhance data consistency, and support targeted infection prevention efforts. The findings offer a model that could inform broader national and international surveillance strategies.
The in-press paper is currently available here
Schults JA, Havers S, Henderson B, Healy S, Runnegar N, Hurst T, et al. Expert consensus and recommendations for Healthcare-Associated Infection surveillance in Queensland, Australia: A modified Delphi study. Am J Infect Control 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.02.012.

Wednesday Mar 05, 2025

In this episode, Phil and Martin talk to Dr Aline Wolfensberger, Senior Attending Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology at University Hospital Zurich and a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Implementation Science in Health Care at the Univetsity of Zurich. We discuss a recent paper that has analysed a range of algorithms for detecting non-ventilator associated pneumonia (nvHAP) that have the potential for significantly reducing the surveillance burden. This work also demonstrated the value of an annual local hospital-wide point prevalence survey that provides data on which areas to target.
Relevant reading:
[1] Mueller A, Pfister M, Faes Hesse M, Zingg W, Wolfensberger A, Swissnoso G. Development and validation of selection algorithms for a non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia semi-automated surveillance system. Clin Microbiol Infect 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2024.11.032 [2] Wolfensberger A, Scherrer AU, Sax H. Automated surveillance of non-ventilator-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia (nvHAP): a systematic literature review. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 2024;13(1):30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-024-01375-8 [3] Wolfensberger A, Jakob W, Faes Hesse M, Kuster SP, Meier AH, Schreiber PW, et al. Development and validation of a semi-automated surveillance system-lowering the fruit for non-ventilator-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia (nvHAP) prevention. Clin Microbiol Infect 2019;25(11):1428 e7- e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2019.03.019

Wednesday Feb 19, 2025

In this episode Martin Talks to Silvana Gastaldi who is a infection prevention and control health referent at UK-MED (a frontline humanitarian medical NGO). We discuss her revent paper in the Journal of Hospital Infection that reviews the literature on methods of assessing how effective environmental cleaning services and procedures are, including ATP, fluorescent UV marking, visual and microbiological methods and also discuss the potential for AI to assist in the healthcare environmental decontamination arena.
The paper we discuss:
Gastaldi S, Accorgi D, D'Ancona F. Tools and strategies for monitoring hospital environmental hygiene services. J Hosp Infect 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2025.01.011
To listen to a previous podcast in which Dr Phil Carling, developer of the UV marking systems talks about it's development and initial use please click here
Podcast website and collections: www.infectioncontrolmatters.com

Wednesday Feb 05, 2025

In this episode, Phil Russo talks to Brett Mitchell and Kate Browne about a study that did not make it over the line. Following a systematic review in 2021 that examined the issue of UTIs in those who self catheterise, a study to examine whether previous work demonstrating a reduction in CAUTI in indwelling catheters through the use of Chlorhexidine for meatal cleansing would be effective was designed. The team discuss the complexities of getting what was essentially a community-based study over the line and why ultimately it did not progress, much to the sadness of the team. previous relevant work is listed below.
Mitchell BG, Prael G, Curryer C, Russo PL, Fasugba O, Lowthian J, et al. The frequency of urinary tract infections and the value of antiseptics in community-dwelling people who undertake intermittent urinary catheterization: A systematic review. Am J Infect Control 2021;49(8):1058-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2021.01.009.
Fasugba O, Cheng AC, Gregory V, Graves N, Koerner J, Collignon P, et al. Chlorhexidine for meatal cleaning in reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections: a multicentre stepped-wedge randomised controlled trial. Lancet Infect Dis 2019;19(6):611-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30736-9.
 

A poster walk at ACIPC 2024

Wednesday Jan 22, 2025

Wednesday Jan 22, 2025

In this episode Brett and Phil chat about a few of the posters presented at the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control 2024 Conference held in Melbourne in November 2024. Poster topics include hand hygiene, surveillance, and a pilot RCT on chlorhexidine impregnated dressings.
 
You can access poster abstracts below and a pdf of the posters here
Improving Hand Hygiene Practices in the Marshall Islands
Epidemiology of Hospital-acquired Bloodstream Infections at a Quaternary Hospital Service
An antimicrobial dressing for prevention of infection complication related peripheral intravenous catheter: an international randomised controlled trial.
Comparing Healthcare Associated Infection data to Hospital Acquired Complication Infection data collection and finding the documentation differences to improve accuracy
 

Engaging Junior Doctors in IPC

Wednesday Jan 08, 2025

Wednesday Jan 08, 2025

In this episode recorded at the 2024 Australasian College of Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) Conference in Melbourne, Brett and Phil talk to Dr Sarah Browning (ID Physician at Hunter New England) and two Junior Medical Officers (JMOs) Sam and Lochlan who worked on IPC-related projects whilst on placement.

The 2024 End of Year Special

Thursday Dec 19, 2024

Thursday Dec 19, 2024

In this episode, Brett, Phil and Martin reflect on the year. We chat about favourite podcasts, papers and conferences in our usual informal manner (well probably even more informal than normal). Papers we mention are listed below.
Cimen C, Bathoorn E, Loeve AJ, Fliss M, Berends MS, Nagengast WB, et al. Uncovering the spread of drug-resistant bacteria through next-generation sequencing based surveillance: transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales by a contaminated duodenoscope. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 2024;13(1):31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-024-01386-5
Torres-Teran MM, Greentree DH, Varghese MM, Cadnum JL, Pavis RL, Saade EA, et al. Identifying and Remediating Super-splasher Sinks to Reduce Dispersal of Pathogens From Sink Drains. Open Forum Infect Dis 2024;11(7):ofae293. https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofae293
Bush M, Bennett CM, Hutchinson A, Bouchoucha SL. Post implementation quarantine recommendations that support preparedness: A systematic review and quarantine implementation capability framework. Infect Dis Health 2024;29(3):152-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idh.2024.02.004
Dhar S, Jinadatha C, Kilgore PE, Henig O, Divine GW, Todter EN, et al. Lowering the Acquisition of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROs) With Pulsed-xenon (LAMP) Study: A Cluster-Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blinded, Interventional Crossover Trial. Clin Infect Dis 2024;79(4):1024-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciae240
Widmer AF, Atkinson A, Kuster SP, Wolfensberger A, Klimke S, Sommerstein R, et al. Povidone Iodine vs Chlorhexidine Gluconate in Alcohol for Preoperative Skin Antisepsis: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 2024;332(7):541-9. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.8531
Leistner R, Kohlmorgen B, Brodzinski A, Schwab F, Lemke E, Zakonsky G, et al. Environmental cleaning to prevent hospital-acquired infections on non-intensive care units: a pragmatic, single-centre, cluster randomized controlled, crossover trial comparing soap-based, disinfection and probiotic cleaning. EClinicalMedicine 2023;59:101958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101958
Denkel LA, Voss A, Caselli E, Dancer SJ, Leistner R, Gastmeier P, et al. Can probiotics trigger a paradigm shift for cleaning healthcare environments? A narrative review. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 2024;13(1):119. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-024-01474-6
 

Wednesday Dec 04, 2024

In this episode of ICMs we talk to the authors of a world first multi-centre double blind cross-over randomised control trial, which explored the effect of in-room air purification on acute respiratory tract infections.  The rationale and pragmatics of undertaking such a trial are explored, as well as interpretation of the findings.
 
The lead researcher, Bismi Thottiyil Sultanmuhammed Abdul, a PhD student at the University of Newcastle is joined by some of her supervisors Professors Jenny Sim and Brett Mitchell to explain this study.
 
The paper can be accessed here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2825943?resultClick=1
 
Reference:
Khadar, B. T. S. A., Sim, J., McDonald, V. M., McDonagh, J., Clapham, M., & Mitchell, B. G. (2024). Air Purifiers and Acute Respiratory Infections in Residential Aged Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open, 7(11), e2443769-e2443769.
 
 
 

Wednesday Nov 20, 2024

In this episode, Martin talks to Dr Rebecca Crapanzano-Sigafoos (formerly Bartles) who is Executive Director, Center for Research, Practoce and Innovation at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). We talk about about her work on staffing levels for IPC Teams, beginning with her early work looking at workload and then the recent review and paper on data obtained from the beta version of the APIC Staffing Calculator. It turns out that the vast majority of 390+ participating organisations are understaffed.. What might help however was the finding that hospitals that were better staffed had significantly lower infection rates according to accepted published data. Papers we discuss are found below:
Bartles R, Dickson A, Babade O. A systematic approach to quantifying infection prevention staffing and coverage needs. Am J Infect Control 2018;46(5):487-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2017.11.006.
Knighton SC, Engle J, Berkson J, Bartles R. A narrative review of how infection preventionist (IP) staffing and outcome metrics are assessed by health care organizations and factors to consider. Am J Infect Control 2024;52(1):91-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2023.06.017.
Bartles R, Reese S, Gumbar A. Closing the gap on infection prevention staffing recommendations: Results from the beta version of the APIC staffing calculator. Am J Infect Control 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2024.09.004.

Friday Nov 08, 2024

In this episode, Martin talks to Cansu Cimen, a researcher at University Hospitals Groningen in the Netherlands, about a recent paper that documents an outbreak and in particular the critical role of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in tracking and controlling the transmission of MDROs via contaminated duodenoscopes.
Focusing on an outbreak linked to ESBL-producing Citrobacter freundii and Klebsiella pneumoniae after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), standard culture methods failed to detect contamination. After many negative cultures using established methods, destructive dismantling of the implicated scope revealed contamination on hard-to-clean components, highlighting NGS as an effective tool for identifying pathogen transmission pathways.
Cimen C, Bathoorn E, Loeve AJ, Fliss M, Berends MS, Nagengast WB, et al. Uncovering the spread of drug-resistant bacteria through next-generation sequencing based surveillance: transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales by a contaminated duodenoscope. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 2024;13(1):31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-024-01386-5.
Download the paper here

Image

About us and contact

Feel free to contact us with suggestions on topics and or speakers. Use Twitter to contact any one or all of us:

Brett Mitchell @1healthau (Twitter link)

Martin Keirnan @emrsa15 (Twitter link)

Deb Friedman @friedmanndeb 

Phil Russo: @PLR_aus (Twitter link)

 

Martin.jpg

Martin Kiernan: Martin is a highly experienced nurse who has worked in the field of infection prevention and control since 1990 in the acute hospital community and, more recently, in academic and industry settings with GAMA Healthcare. Martin's reputation as a research collaborator is recognised both nationally and internationally.  Martin’s involvement in professional organisations such as the Infection Prevention Society and the Healthcare Infection Society has enhanced his reputation as a key opinion leader, teacher, leader, and researcher. As a result, he has been invited to act in leadership and mentoring roles to support his colleagues throughout the world in terms of infection prevention.

 

Brett.jpg

Professor Brett Mitchell:  Brett is a Professor of Nursing with over 150 peer reviewed journal and oral conference presentations, authored several books, and has been an invited speaker at numerous infection prevention and control conferences in Australia and internationally. He is a Fellow of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control and the Australian College of Nursing. Professor Mitchell is also Editor-in-Chief of Infection, Disease and Health. Professor Mitchell has experience leading nursing teams, research teams and infection prevention and control teams in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Further details: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/brett-mitchell 

 

Phil.jpg

Associate Professor Philip Russo:  Phil is Director of Research, Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Victoria, Australia and Director of Nursing Research, Cabrini Health. A/Prof. Russo is the Past President of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control. He has worked in both state and national positions, notably leading the establishment of the VICNISS Surveillance Program in Victoria followed by overseeing the successful implementation of the National Hand Hygiene Initiative sponsored by the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care. Recently he has been an advisor at both a State and National level in the pandemic response. Further details:  https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/philip-russo

Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Version: 20241125