Our blog covers many topics in the healthcare field, most of which focus on preventable hospital-acquired infections. In honor of National Immunization Awareness Month, we focus on a different category of preventable infection, those viral infections that can be avoided thanks to vaccines.
We all know the surfaces in our facilities that are the most touched, right? Overbed tables, bed rails, door handles, keyboards. But your facility may have a unique program or provide a unique service that introduces a novel high-touch surface that might not make the typical "top ten" list. In a recent study, a team sampled high-touch surfaces only to reveal that their CPR manikins ranked as one of the top two most-touched, and therefore most-contaminated surfaces in their hospital! Due to an extra emphasis on CPR training at their facility, their CPR manikins were in constant rotation for training and assessment, making them idea reservoirs for bacterial contamination. In today's post, we will present what surfaces might go overlooked at your facility, and how you can take steps to identify other forgotten surfaces that could lead to germ transmission.
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 vendor exhibit area is an opportunity to explore the latest products, services, and resources relevant to your field of study. Here are some tips on how to make the most of your time in the vendor exhibit area:
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 should you face a medical challenge, I hope these suggestions help you or your loved one walk a smoother path to healing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
