Health. Care. | An Educational Blog

Spring and summer mean conference season for Infection Preventionists and other medical practitioners! Academic and exposition/trade conferences are invaluable opportunities for clinicians, researchers, and professionals to exchange ideas, network, and stay abreast of the latest developments in infection prevention and control. However, attending a conference can be overwhelming without proper preparation and strategy. In this post, we'll explore some tips on how to make the most of your conference experience.

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This week's topic has suggestions for how to keep track of all the information you are collecting. Whether you like paper-based or digital information storage, keep these ideas in mind to help reign in the sometimes overwhelming amount of data.

Step 4: Record-Keeping!

One of the most important things you can do as a patient or patient advocate is to keep notes. Write down symptoms, questions, and any information you may want to share with your caregiver. It is easy to think in the moment that you will remember what is said and remember what you want to ask and even remember all the information about your recent symptoms so you can answer the doctor’s questions.The truth is, however, that the visits and the concern are more stressful than we may know and it is very difficult to remember all that you need to remember.  Here are some helpful tips to get you started.

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Our series continues with a step that helps you take action as you become a more empowered patient. While health insurance and other factors set certain limits on your choices, the more you know about your healthcare options in advance, the better. 

Step 3: Action!

In many cases, you decide what doctor you go to, what hospital you check into, and even what treatment you receive. There are few things you can do to help you make better choices.

We hear so often how "we all have a role to play in reducing healthcare associated infections." From washing our hands to advocating for policy changes, it can often feel overwhelming. One way to make our impact more practical is to identify the things that we are uniquely able to do in our current position. In a series of posts starting today, we will explore the actions we can take to reduce infections most effectively based on our professional role in healthcare. We hope these ideas serve as a springboard for your own choices in the future.

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This week we continue our series on our New Year's resolution: Becoming a more empowered patient! This step provides some guidelines to help make the most of our information-gathering.

Step 2: Research!

One of the first things any of us do when we encounter illness is to Google it. A study showed that one in three  (35%) American adults have used the Internet to "diagnose" a medical condition. Even our doctors warn us not to research "too much." It's not that they don't want us to be informed; it's just that the Internet is full of every kind of information, from baseless opinion to peer-reviewed data alongside an entire spectrum of possible diagnoses, prognosis, and symptoms. We have to be careful about our research and approach it more strategically..

In the world of risk mitigation, there are a number of established concepts that encompass the many ways to avoid harm. These concepts also apply to infection prevention and control, and help us identify areas of greater vulnerability, areas where we can be proactive, and finally, areas where we can lessen harm should the worst occur. In today's post, we will look at these key concepts and begin to the lay the foundation of the idea of risk mitigation in infection prevention and control.

At no other time in history has the patient had access to the amount of information about illness, had the legal and societal (and financial) rights to determine healthcare choices, and access to widespread availability of cutting edge technology and expert care. This January you will find the steps you can take to become more empowered, either as a patient yourself, or as a patient advocate.

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are computer algorithms that take data from graphs and uses relationships between the data points to make predictions or recommendations. Much like our own brains, neural networks connect and correlate information to generate possible patterns that can be helpful to a variety of fields, including infection control and prevention (IP). In IP, GNNs are being used to predict risk for healthcare acquired infections (HAIs) and make decisions about resource allocation. In today's post, we'll take a closer look at how this is being done.

The concept of safety is nothing new: Anything that protects us from injury or death has surely been on the mind of humankind since we were hunter-gatherers on the savanna surrounded by carnivores. But mere survival is no longer enough! We want to be able to do what our hearts and minds imagine, but still be mindful of our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. As a result, every field of human endeavor has safety as an essential component, not the least of which are health and medical care. In today's post, we'll look at what unifies all safety concerns across all fields, and highlight some critical inventions that make hospital care safer for everyone.

To address the persistent issue of healthcare associated infections, hospital professionals deploy two primary approaches: reactive and proactive solutions. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options, so a combination of the two is required to cover all reasonable contingencies. In this blog post, we'll explore the differences between these two strategies and their respective impacts on patient outcomes and healthcare systems.