This week we celebrate Halloween, a holiday to get spooked by supernatural creatures for one night of the year. For those of us working in the world of infection control, there's enough spookiness lurking in the microbiome to give us nightmares every night. In today's post, we'll look at some of the creepiest microorganisms and see that some of them share traits with Halloween's classic characters.
As a general consumer, one most likely has little need to know the difference between a treated article claim and a public health claim. However, as a consumer for products for healthcare communities, including those that make claims about antimicrobial, biocidal, or infection control supports, it's essential to know the difference. Here is a quick overview.
Whenever a product with EPA-registered Public Health Claims puts those claims in writing, you'll see an * or t after the word bacteria or germs. For example, "XYZ kills >99.9% of harmful bacteria* in under two hours." You'll find this on the labels of cleaning products in your home, as well as on industrial strength cleaners found in hospitals or other healthcare facilities. What does it mean?
This week we celebrated Global Handwashing Day, a day to promote the health and safety benefits clean hands both in every day settings, but especially in healthcare facilities. Why is handwashing so important? Because healthcare worker hands are one of the "surfaces" patients interact with the most! Therefore, we have to keep them clean, and at critical times, sanitized. Today's post will explore how we clean and sanitize the most important surface in a patient room: Hands.
Securing an EPA Registration for Public Health Claims is difficult, time-consuming, and costly. However, the registration, while not an endorsement or certification, is a standard by which products can be evaluated and chosen with confidence. An EPA registration number tells consumers that the product has gone through rigorous testing and found not to be a threat to consumer health or the environment.1
The word “reputation” comes from words meaning “to judge repeatedly.” This idea of forming an opinion, and reforming it over and over again as time goes on, is the critical aspect of reputation: It is not something that is set in stone, but rather, is reconsidered and reevaluated indefinitely. This is especially true with a hospital’s reputation, which can move positively or negatively in the span of months, reflecting the impact of news coverage, public ratings, or financial status. So what is the role of infection prevention and control in helping form - and maintain - a hospital’s good reputation?
An Environmental Protection Agency's Registered Public Health Claim is the agency’s highest standard for products hoping to make statements regarding their impact on harmful bacteria and, as a result, the reduction in the bioburden. Because the registration permits the product to make statements (claims) about killing microbes that are otherwise harmful to people, the agency has set a very high bar for achieving their registration. The ability to make Public Health Claims is a lengthy process that is difficult to achieve and requires that a product first submit testing protocols for prior approval and then the product itself is submitted for rigorous testing against those protocols to ensure that it is both efficacious and durable.
As those of us in the northern hemisphere transition from summer to winter, we will also be experiencing another shift in seasons, especially those of us who live and work in the field of infection control and prevention. Along with the end of warmer months is the end of the summer's favorite pathogens: Gram negative bacteria. And looming ahead in the winter? Cooler months' weapon of choice: Viruses like influenza. We'll explore seasonality in infection control and prevention in today's post.
This past week, the Trump administration signed an executive order to investigate improvements to flu vaccine production and ways to encourage more Americans to get vaccinated. Called "Modernizing Influenza Vaccines in the United States to Promote National Security and Public Health," this executive order places the responsibility on the US Department of Health and Human Services to come up with a plan and budget within the next 120 days to meet these goals. In today's post, we'll explore the two issue involved: New flu shot technologies and the need to get more Americans vaccinated.
Overbed tables are essential in patient rooms. They serve as a surface for food trays, and can hold personal items such as phones, computers, or books. Even healthcare workers uses overbed tables for holding medical devices or supplies. All this usage means one thing: Overbed tables are one of the most-touched and most-contaminated surfaces in a patient room.
