In light of recent news that the current federal administration plans to terminate HICPAC, we have chosen to republish this post from last year. We...
What is HICPAC?
Health.Care | An Educational Blog
2 min read.
The Hidden Cost of Staying Too Long: Why Reducing Infections Could Free Up Beds and Budgets
Hospitals across the country are feeling the pressure. In recent years, the number of staffed beds has dropped significantly, while the demand for...
At any given time, nurses in various health systems in are going on strike to put pressure on their employers to listen to their concerns and offer...
Marketing in healthcare isn’t like marketing shoes or soft drinks, and for good reason. When lives are on the line, the claims made about healthcare...
No one wants to stay in a hospital any longer than they have to. We all have an innate desire to get back to the comfort of our homes and begin the...
Infection control is often viewed through a clinical lens, focused on pathogens, protocols, and products. But there's another critical element at...
Have you ever struggled with a gas nozzle that didn't fit, only to find it was for the wrong type of fuel? Or have you ever tried to add one last...
Incluso en el mundo actual, después de la pandemia de COVID-19, los patógenos infecciosos siguen siendo noticia, llamando nuestra atención hacia las...
In the field of infection prevention and control (IPC), diagnostic stewardship is emerging as a critical strategy for reducing healthcare-associated...
In 2008, the medical field presented data to the federal government in support of funding to study antimicrobial resistance in hospital-associated...
In healthcare settings, cleanliness and infection control are paramount to ensuring the safety of both patients and healthcare workers. The role of...
In a previous post, we discovered the many entities that regulate the physical operation of a healthcare facility. Who is responsible for making sure...
The recent wave of tariffs imposed on major U.S. trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, and China, is poised to impact industries across the...
In Washington, the current administration is making government efficiency a priority, including layoffs and reorganization at several public health...
In The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)'s 10-Year Research Plan, the organization highlights the critical role of implementation...
4 min read.
Professional Profile: Sheila Cahnman, FAIA, FACHA, LEED AP, and Growing Innovation in Healthcare Design
Few architects have the vantage point brought by a career in healthcare spanning 4 decades. Professional leaders with this kind of experience, in...
A surprising product recall this week might remind healthcare workers of a known risk in hospital infection control and prevention: The contamination...
Building on your new skills as an empowered patient, today's post provides links to some of the excellent resources from leading health care...
Think back to the last time you or a loved one was a patient in a hospital or healthcare facility. What things do you remember most? Is it the stress...
On a fall day in 1957, a young girl learns about the launch of Earth's first artificial satellite and falls in love with science. Perhaps she rushes...
Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a respiratory virus that can cause mild to severe illness, particularly in young children, older adults, and...
On a sunny day in the early 1950s a young girl, the daughter of a medical secretary and a waiter, witnessed a terrifying event. Her mother collapsed...
Designing for healthcare environments is a delicate balancing act. Architects and designers must navigate a web of constraints, making trade-offs to...
he neighborhood school blood drive is one of those events that is so common, so American, that it has just become a part of our national landscape....
Any and every day is a good day to celebrate nurses! (February 6th, however, is the 37th Annual Black Nurses Day on Capitol Hill!) These hard-working...
It's no wonder why we have long associated the heart with life and love. It races when we are nervous or exerting ourselves. It beats with comforting...
2 min read.
New Study Demonstrates Biocidal Efficacy of Copper-Infused Surfaces on C. difficile Spores
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) remain a significant challenge in clinical environments, and Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is one...
There is a good chance that you have Staph - Staphylococcus aureus - on your body right now. In fact, it is estimated that 25-30% of us carry Staph...
After our first post about prions, it's a comfort to learn that the rest of the germs on our countdown are able to be destroyed by cleaners!...
Every second Monday in January, National Clean Your Desk Day rolls around to remind us of the importance of a clean and organized workspace. This day...
Germs, by definition, are viruses, bacteria, spores, fungi, and prions that can make you sick. And all germs are not created alike. Not only does the...
One of the predictions for healthcare in 2025 is the growth in the concierge medicine sector. Concierge medicine, also known as boutique or retainer...
A new trend in hospital design has been popping up: Micro-hospitals. As our nation's health care options grow, incorporating more satellite...
Imagine walking into a grocery store. The shelves are stocked with countless products: fruits, vegetables, snacks, and household essentials. The...
Hospitals clean with great attention to what organisms caused illness within that patient room. The pathogen could be a virus, a bacteria, a fungus,...
As the holidays approach, many of us gather around tables filled with an array of delicious dishes—bread baskets, cheese platters, tangy pickles,...
Whether someone in your home has been sick, or you simply want to reduce the spread of outside germs into your quarantine environment, one of the...
As we reflect on the many things we have to be thankful for, it’s easy to think about family, friends, and the comforts of home. But there’s a group...
Hospitals are complex ecosystems that require meticulous planning and real-time data to function effectively. One critical metric in this operational...
Without much fanfare or media coverage (and often with misplaced public criticism due to rampant misinformation) thousands of researchers do tireless...
We acknowledge that the land on which we gather, now known as Norfolk, Virginia, is the traditional territory of the Chesapeake people, part of the...
Today is Veteran’s Day, a day to celebrate the dedication and sacrifice of those Americans who served our country as a member of our armed services....
Healthcare interior design plays an important but often unacknowledged role in infection control and prevention, especially in hospitals where...
It's Halloween week, so we are exploring one of the spookier microorganisms that can infect us. Today we explore the swimmer bacteria cell, Proteus, ...
Healthcare decision-makers must always face the difficult task of balancing patient care and cost-efficiency. One of the most valuable tools for...
October is National Animal Safety and Protection Month, we wanted to talk about the health of our furry friends, their medical care, and how they...
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all very aware of the need for isolation in a hospital. But did you know there are different types of...
Managing and sharing vast amounts of patient data across various platforms and systems remains one of healthcare's most challenging tasks. One of the...
When it comes to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are among the most critical...
Staphylococcus might as well be the mob when it comes to hospital acquired infections. Strains from this bacterial crime family account for 38% of...
As we reach the midpoint of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15), we pause to recognize the extraordinary contributions of...
Watching and waiting, always lurking around the next corner, these three pathogens are both found everywhere and highly resistant, a 1-2 punch for...
More than 800,000 Americans live with end-stage kidney disease, and over half of them depend on dialysis as a necessary and life-sustaining...
A critical department of any healthcare facility is the on-site laboratory. Clinical laboratories process the many samples needed to help doctors...
Today's trio of pathogens are stealthy, living on our bodies without causing us harm but wreaking havoc when they find a way inside a bacteria-free,...
New England has been put onhigh alert thanks to an outbreak of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), a rare virus that can lead to the deaths of 30% of...
It is estimated that there are 5×1030 bacteria on Earth. That's 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 5 nonillion. We have not even begun to...
Millions of American children have returned to school or will very soon, officially kicking off the academic year. Alongside the promise of learning...
Usually we discuss products that fall under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in this blog, including disinfectants, cleaners, and biocidal...
In formal descriptions of the germ-fighting powers of antibacterial and biocidal products, the terms "Gram positive" and "Gram negative" are used as...
Around 248 million years ago, a mass extinction wipes out most life on Earth. Half of all animal families become extinct. Almost every single marine...
Every summer, headlines around the world war of dangerous "red tide," a harmful algal bloom that threatens marine life and humans alike. Usually...
Will they or won't they? This was the question at the Olympics in Paris, France this past week as swimmers and fans waited to hear whether the...
It seems like it's not officially summer without at least once newspaper headline warning us about "flesh-eating bacteria" cases connected to popular...
There are four fundamental aspects of endoscopes that lead to infection: Intricate design, biofilm formation, human error during reprocessing, and...
The Paris Olympics are just around the corner, the first Summer Olympics since Covid forced the Tokyo games to delay a year. Epidemiologists are a...
Up until recently, the medical community has assumed that the infection rates in endoscopy centers was around 1:1,000,000 - a tiny risk for a...
The Plague, that is, an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, ravaged Europe during the 1400s, where it was known as "the Black...
As we enjoy summer, many of us are planning to travel to see loved ones or take a well-deserved vacation. A growing number of Americans are planning...
A young woman sits in a clinic halfway around the world, waiting for her COVID-19 vaccine. The entities involved in getting that vaccine to her, all...
3 min read.
Not All "Antimicrobial Activity" Tests are the Same: Why the EPA Standard Exceeds JIS/ISO, ASTM and Others
In this blog, we have covered the rigorous protocol set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a product to make public health claims, that...
What do you do if you discover that 50% of your healthcare residents are colonized with a multi-drug resistant organism (MDRO)? You'd probably adjust...
This post is intended to provide historical background for some of today's medical treatments. It is not intended to provide medical advice or...
Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere these days: Generating images that fill our social feeds and ads, answering our questions via...
A hospital is one of the most, if not the most, regulated environments in our nation. Due to the complexity of services, equipment, usage, and...
Today's post looks at the team in the trenches, the boots on the ground, the hands-on technicians: Environmental Services.
Health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand, and use healthcare information to make appropriate health decisions and follow...
On Memorial Day, we remember those men and women who died serving our country as a member of the armed forces. Traditionally, the day is set aside to...
Ever since we first realized that disease could spread through physical contact, medical workers have used barriers to reduce the transmission of...
Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) play an important role in today's healthcare system. Most (45) states have at least one of the over 1,300 CAHs, but...
I just touched that door! What could be on it? Oh no - I also pushed that elevator button and that person just coughed! Are these some of your common...
Surveillance and reporting are essential components of any facility’s infection control program. However, as Boromir might say, one does not simply...
This is a challenging time for nurses. With critically understaffed facilities, strikes, and the growing commercialization of healthcare, nurses find...
A remote infection preventionist is a professional who specializes in preventing the spread of infections within healthcare settings, but performs...
Our blog covers many topics in the healthcare field, most of which focus on preventable hospital-acquired infections. In honor of National...
We all know the surfaces in our facilities that are the most touched, right? Overbed tables, bed rails, door handles, keyboards. But your facility...
While attending academic conferences, don't overlook the vendor exhibit area – it's more than just a place to pick up free pens and notebooks. The...
Today wraps up our series on becoming an empowered patient or patient advocate. We hope 2020 brings you all nothing but health and happiness, but...
Spring and summer mean conference season for Infection Preventionists and other medical practitioners! Academic and exposition/trade conferences are...
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...
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...
2 min read.
Patients, Staff, Administrators: What Each of Us Can Do to Reduce Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs)
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...
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...
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...
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...
2 min read.
How are Graph Neural Networks Being Used in the Fight Against Healthcare Acquired Infections?
Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are computer algorithms that take data from graphs and uses relationships between the data points to make predictions or...
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...
To address the persistent issue of healthcare associated infections, hospital professionals deploy two primary approaches: reactive and proactive...
There are so many psychological, sociological, and intellectual barriers to change - anyone who has tried to break a bad habit or motivate a group...
Access to clean water, soap, and basic cleaning products may seem like a given in our nation, leading many of us to overlook the impact poverty can...
With a Presidential Inauguration taking place in the midst of a global pandemic, we have the opportunity to look at how past president's have dealt...
Achieving and maintaining sanitized surfaces in hospitals requires an arsenal cleaning and disinfecting products, with quaternary ammonium compounds...
The first African-American to join the American Society for Microbiology was a woman. The first African-American to receive a PhD in Microbiology was...
Over the past few posts, we have been looking at how ideas make their way to hospital decision-makers. Nurses play a crucial role in patient care,...
One of the many concepts that have entered the public consciousness since the COVID-19 pandemic is the idea of healthcare equity. Issues of race are...
While the general population may use terms like sterilizer, disinfectant and sanitizer interchangeably, they actually have very specific definitions...
3 min read.
Who Makes Decisions about Infection Prevention in a Private (Non-Government Owned) Hospital?
Hospitals are the setting for countless decisions each day, decisions that impact patient outcomes, financial investments, community health and so...
In earlier posts, we've examined the degree of cleanliness required for specific items as well as what the EPA requires to make claims about...
Probably no other organizational entity has the human resources complexity of a hospital. Healthcare facilities bring together not just medical...
A recent article in Infection Control Today considered a C-suite position for infection prevention, its adoption nationwide, and its potential to...
4 min read.
Hospital Acquired Infections and Hospitals Acquired by Private Equity: The Dangerous Correlation
About a quarter of American hospitals are for-profit, that is, they are operated to generate profit for owners and stakeholders. A subsection of...
In the traditional Christmas story from the New Testament, three Magi arrived from the East with three gifts for the newborn Jesus: Frankincense,...
Over the past years, and with an uptick since COVID, the acronym "ESG" has been popping up in discussions related to investing, corporate values, and...
Ever since the COVID pandemic, hospitals have become more adept at thinking outside the box, or rather, outside the patient room. For some hospitals,...
In the sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, an omnipresent computer named HAL monitors all activity aboard a spacecraft on a critical mission. The...
After you make the case for the healthcare innovation in terms of patient and facility benefits, anticipating possible risks, and demonstrating...
Assessing the potential risks and benefits is an important step before proposing a new product or program for your facility. You need to anticipate...
The first step in making a case for a healthcare innovation is collecting the data that supports it. This data includes evidence the the innovation...
C. diff, or Clostridioides difficile, is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, endosporic, toxigenic, opportunistic, bacillus. Its scientific...
Every successful organization, from a small grassroots group to a global corporation, has a way for ideas to percolate through the system and find...
This post concludes our series on MRSA in support of MRSA Awareness Month.
Hospital finances are a complex process, involving all the parts of a service provider, a retail business, an investment venture, and a non-profit...
There are countless contributors to the world of medicine who share Hispanic/Latino backgrounds, but there are a few noteworthy individuals whose...
As we move into the last week of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we will turn our attention to the unique healthcare challenges faced by...
This post continues our MRSA series in support of MRSA Awareness Month.
The weeks between mid-September and mid-October has been National Hispanic Heritage Month since the late 1980s. During this month, the nation takes...
To recognize MRSA Awareness Month through October, here are 5 critical facts about MRSA that everyone needs to know.
In our last post, we introduced the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report on patient safety. Today we will focus...
Those of us who work in the field of infection control have a lot on our minds: Surveillance, efficacy, new studies, data, policy, finances... the...
3 min read.
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology: The Patient Safety Report Unpacked
This past month, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) submitted a report focused on recommendations around patient...
How can a simple infection lead to organ failure and death in the span of a few days? The answer lies not in the pathogen causing the infection...
With a few words, a family's life is forever changed: "It's cancer." For any patient, these words bring anxiety and fear. When that patient is a...
The perceived stability of the national economy impacts the willingness of the healthcare industry to invest in innovations with up-front costs. In...
Every year a new class of students start their medical training with a white coat ceremony. The white coat is so synonymous with "Doctor," it seems...
The Centers for Disease Control's Global Safe Healthcare division refers to infection prevention and control as "the cornerstone of a resilient...
Germ theory, the idea that infection is caused by microscopic organisms unseen to the naked eye, is only a few hundred years old. This theory focuses...
Alongside its work in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains an ongoing international presence, providing...
Imagine a group of hikers setting out on a 100-mile trek through a remote forest, each taking their own path and traveling alone. Each carries a...
3 min read.
The Environmental Programs Service of the Veterans Health Administration: Keeping Patients Safe
The Veterans Health Administration has long been at the forefront of progress in reducing hospital-associated infections. Through adherence to best...
Infection preventionists and their colleagues are inundated with sales messages promoting the latest products, innovations, new formulations, and...
In our earlier post, we explored the way mutations in bacteria can result in antibiotic resistance. If a mutation helps a bacteria survive its...
Twitter brought brevity and global outreach to social media. Founded in 2007, Twitter stood out from its competitors as a quick way to reach and...
"Superbugs," or antibiotic-resistant bacteria, have been in the news a lot lately. These types of bacteria can cause infections that are very...
Since Facebook's entry onto the social media marketplace in 2004, it has grown to a stunning 2 BILLION monthly active user base, more than the...
We are in the midst of the busy vacation air travel season. Therefore, our attention turns to the packed plains that will carry you to your relaxing...
Two ingredients make for a perfect environment for pathogens: Warmth and moisture. No season better provides this environment than summer. Just...
Social media has become integrated into our daily lives more than any other technology. To date, 3 out of 4 American adults have a Facebook account,...
Eradicating pathogens from environmental surfaces in hospitals is a daily fight. Keeping bacteria from reproducing on surfaces, finding reservoirs in...
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...
According to Dr. Meghan Lyman, lead author of a study on the rapid increase of Candida auris cases in the United States, there are 4 action items...
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...
Almost every country has a government agency responsible for the health and safety of its citizens and its environment. Where those two departments...
In our previous posts about DALYs and QALYs, we have defined the terms and presented how the healthcare field calculates these two measures of...
Many products in the marketplace have an EPA registration. What does that mean? An Environmental Protection Agency's Registered Public Health Claim...
In the first part of this series, we explored how quality of life is calculated, a complex process used by healthcare researchers as they attempt to...
How do you put an economic value on a human life? Why would you ever want to? As difficult as this quantification may be, it is a necessary practice...
Large-scale healthcare projects, from new projects to renovations, face a challenging future. After the tedious process of securing permits and...
As a response to the growing global and national threat of antibiotic resistance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established a...
In today's healthcare marketplace, it is growing commonplace to consider patients as customers - and the shoe fits, so to speak. Patients do have...
One of the most tracked and reported metrics in today's healthcare facilities is infection rates. Anyone working in a hospital is aware of the...
No one could question the positive impact vaccines and the immunization they provide have had on global health. The World Health Organization...
Last week we provided a big-picture overview of the healthcare supply chain, from supplier to patient. This week, we will dig deeper into this...
As was the case with many healthcare challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic brought public attention to the issue of the healthcare supply chain. A...
If you spend any time at all in the world of infection control and prevention, you've run across the NHSN, or National Healthcare Safety Network....
A couple years back, the EOSCU Team had the honor of presenting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) campus outside of Atlanta,...
We've covered Candida auris in this blog before. Not only has it been one of the pathogens of concern cited by the Centers for Disease Control and...
Every field has its own jargon, vocabulary, and acronyms. Infection control and prevention is no different! In today's post, we'll look at some of...
One of the most lasting positive impacts of the COVID pandemic was the increased accessibility to telehealth, including remote appointments, mailed...
Last Saturday concluded Patient Safety Awareness Week but like the members of the APIC would say, every day is for patient safety. One such member...
Patient safety is a topic we often cover in this blog; it is a central concern of anyone involved in the healthcare industry. However, we may not...
Today we pulled together a few of our previous posts about patient safety in honor of Patient Safety Awareness Week. We believe that all our posts...
Radical. Unconventional. Irreverent. Dr. Abigail Salyers entered the field of microbiology as an outsider and ended up bringing the field into a new...
A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Advisory addresses an increase in "extensively-drug-resistant" (XDR) Shigella, the...
Since the 1980's March has been recognized as Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the struggles and successes. While there has been tremendous...
Remember back in 2020, when the COVID pandemic was still new, and we were all getting used to lockdowns, social distancing, and masks? Many of us...
In hospitals across the nation, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) monitors are used to test surfaces for the presence of biological contamination. Armed...
In a Baltimore, MD laboratory in the 1970s, a researcher made a discovery that would revolutionize our ability to detect the presence of microscopic...
It seems like everyone is talking about ChatGPT, the seemingly all-knowing chatbot created by OpenAI. Through an online interface, anyone can ask the...
February marks a month to celebrate the vital role of African-Americans in our nation's history. Today, we will take some time to recognize an...
In our last post, we explored how adopting a new product can result in some heavy lifting. Not only does product adoption require financial...
With World Cancer Day this Saturday, we dedicate this post to those patients facing a cancer diagnosis. As with any serious disease, the many types...
3 min read.
New Product Adoption: Are You Ahead of the Curve? (And What To Do if Not Everyone Else Is)
The release of any new phone model reveals much about where people fall on the product adoption curve. There are the...
This blog has covered many aspects of microbiology, from germs that make us sick, to the bacteria that help us live. Today’s post explores...
A seismic shift in human civilization occurred when we learned how to plant and harvest our own food. The advent of agriculture meant access to more...
Language is by far the most astonishing difference between humans and all other life on Earth. The richness, diversity, prevalence and pervasiveness...
Medical researchers have recently placed more emphasis on the non-medical conditions that impact patient health and outcomes. Collectively known as...
The medical chart is set to become a thing of the past. Those thick folders containing your medical history are steadily being replaced by electronic...
Many healthcare concerns will follow us into the new year, some we have carried for decades and some that have become more threatening thanks to the...
In our previous posts about the Case-Mix Index (CMI), we explored what it conveys and how it is calculated. Today we will discuss who looks at that...
Last week, we looked at Diagnosis-Related Groups and how they receive codes based on cost and complexity. These numbers play a key role in the...
Did everyone notice the uptick in respiratory illnesses (including COVID) that started about a week and a half after Thanksgiving? Many of us might...
The Case-Mix Index (CMI) has been defined in many ways. One definition might read "a relative value assigned to a diagnostic-related group." Another...
Ambulatory health care facilities, such as outpatient surgery and diagnostic centers, face new regulations requiring the active presence of an...
No profession knows more about disease transmission than those working in infection control and prevention. And yet, due to a complex network of...
Among all tracked hospital-associated infections, the one that seems to have the lowest rates are surgical site infections. While this relative...
Crime scene investigators use many tools to figure out the events leading up to a crime, how the crime was committed, and how to apprehend the...
On a fall day in 1928, a window was left open in a London laboratory, letting in a cool breeze. Carried on that breeze were microscopic spores of...
For those of us who live where winters can be cold, we may be finding ourselves wrapping ourselves up more as we go out, bundling up to stay cozy...
Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR, allows us to quickly identify a pathogen from a small sample. This rapid identification is a helpful change from...