Infection Control Matters

Patients’ prespectives of Healthcare Infections with Prof Maria Northcote

In this week's episode Martin talks to Brett and Professor Maria Northcote about a recent paper on the expeciences of healthcare-associated infection on the lives of patients. The importance of communication is one of the avenues that we go down.
1. Mitchell BG, et al. Patients' perspectives of healthcare-associated infection: 'you don't know what impacts it will have on your life'. J Hosp Infect. 2022;126:93-102.  doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2022.04.014 https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(22)00128-1/fulltext

Mulling over priorities, RCTs at the ACIPC Conference

In this week's episode, Brett, Phil and Martin have a catch-up at the ACIPC conference in Sydney following Brett's session in which the audience were invited to select their priorities for action over the next year. Would the HCAIS that present the biggest burden (HAP and CAUTI) figure highly?

Special episode for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week - the 2022 ESPAUR Report is published

In this special episode for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, Martin talks to UKHSA subject experts about the ESPAUR Report (English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance) released earlier today. You can find out more on the report at the ESPAUR webinar on 23rd November and can register here to attend: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/espaur-report-2021-to-2022-webinar-tickets-439575370767 
 
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is responsible for protecting every member of every community from the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents and other health threats. UKHSA provides intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage, to make the nation's health secure. 
UKHSA leads the English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance. ESPAUR publish a report annually which includes national data on antimicrobial prescribing and resistance, antimicrobial stewardship implementation, and awareness activities. It is published here during World Antimicrobial Awareness Week.  
 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-surveillance-programme-antimicrobial-utilisation-and-resistance-espaur-report 
The national WAAW toolkit which includes a range of resources colleagues can use is available here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/european-antibiotic-awareness-day-resources-toolkit-for-healthcare-professionals-in-england 
 
 

IPC Challenges in aged care and priorities in acute care discussion recorded live at the ACIPC Conference

In this episode, recorded live on stage in front of an audience at the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) Conference being held in Sydney. Brett, Phil and Martin talk to Sally HAvers and Belinda Henderson about the challenges facing IPC workers in aged care in Australia and future priorities for IPC going forward in acute care.

From Films to Biofilms with Annette Jeanes and Jean-Yves Maillard from the IPS Conference

In another discussion recorded at the Infection Prevention Society Conference in Bournemouth (UK), Martin and Brett chatted to Dr Annette Jeanes and Prof Jean-Yves Maillard. Annette formerly was the Director of IPC at University College London Hospital NHS Trust, and now works independently. We discuss her time working in the film industry during COVID, and how the varied skillset of an IP practitioner is transferable into what you might think of a completely alien setting. Following that discussion, we discuss the topic of environmental dry surface biofilms with Prof Jean-Yves Maillard from the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Cardiff University in Wales. Jean-Yves is an experienced researcher in this field and presented the Tina Bradley Memorial lecture at the conference on this topic.

It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it with Jon Otter (from the IPS Conference)

In this episode recorded at the Infection Prevention Society Conference in Bournemouth (UK), Martin talks to Dr Jon Otter (from Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London), where he is the joint Director of Infection Prevention and Control.
We discuss a paper that he gave at the conference on the topic of language and getting the message over. A copy of his excellent presentation complete with the references to the papers that we discuss can be found downloaded from here - https://jonotter.files.wordpress.com/2022/10/221013-2-ips-communication.pptx

Special from the IPS Conference - reducing C. difficile by better mouthcare and a general chat

In this first episode recorded at the Infection Prevention Society Conference (Bournemouth, UK) we talk to Dr Holly Slyne about how the Mouth Care Matters programme resulted in a reduction in C. difficile infections by way of reducing healthcare-associated pneumonias and antibiotic use. Holly has kindly shared some resources, please see links below.
Following that, Brett, Phil and Martin have a chat about the importance of face-to-face meetings and our conference highlights so far.
 
Health Education England Mouth Care Matters website: http://mouthcarematters.hee.nhs.uk/
 
Mouthcare matters poster courtesy of Dr Holly Slyne HERE
Mouthcare care plan courtesy of Dr Holly Slyne HERE
 
 

Transmission paradigms - the view from Engineers and Physicists with Profs Cath Noakes and Lidia Morawska

In this episode, Martin and Brett get views on contact/droplet/airborne transmission from an Engineer (Prof Cath Noakes) and a Physicist (Prof Lidia Morawska).
Prof Catherine Noakes OBE is Professor of Environmental Engineering for Building at the University of Leeds. She is a chartered mechanical engineer, with a background in fluid dynamics. Her teaching and research expertise is in building physics and environmental engineering and leading research into ventilation, indoor air quality and infection control in the built environment. Her internationally recognised group carry out experimental and modelling based studies, in particular to explore the transport of airborne pathogens, the influence of indoor airflows and effectiveness of engineering approaches to controlling airborne disease transmission. This include substantial research activity and policy advice relating to COVID-19 transmission. During the COVID-19 pandemic She co-chaired the Environment and Modelling sub group for the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and  contributed to multiple advisory groups and initiatives through IMechE, CIBSE, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Academy of Medical Sciences, WHO, the NHS and several government departments.
Prof Lidia Morawska is Distinguished Professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, at the Queensland University of Technology and Director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH) at QUT. Her work focuses on fundamental and applied research in the interdisciplinary field of air quality and its impact on human health, with a specific focus on atmospheric fine, ultrafine and nanoparticles. Since 2003, she expanded her interests to include also particles from human respiration activities and airborne infection transmission. In 2018, she received the Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research, as well as the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) 2017 David Sinclair Award. In 2020, she contributed to the area of airborne infection transmission of viruses, including COVID-19. In that same year she became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) and received the 2021 International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate Special 2020 Award for an Extraordinary Academic Leadership. In 2021, she was included on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

New contact, droplet, airborne transmission paradigms for IPC sum-up

In this podcast, Phil, Martin and Brett try to summarise the key messages they heard from recent guests discussing contact, droplet and airbourne transmission.
What were the key points and similarities? Find out in this podcast.
 

Opinions from around the world on contact, droplet, airborne paradigms for IPC - Part 4 (Hilary Humphries, David Enoch, Jennie Wilson, Jon Otter, Pierre Parneix)

In part 4 of this series on the current IPC paradigms of contact, droplet and airborne, we hear from a further range of guests on this topics.
This week we talk to:
Hilary Humphries (Ireland)
David Enoch (UK)
Jennie Wilson (UK)
Michael Borg (Malta)
Jon Otter (UK
Pierre Parneix (France)
If you haven't listened to the previous episodes in the series, please listen to them first.