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 thoughts in high-traffic areas such as airports, stadiums, or healthcare facilities, especially in our more anxious post-COVID lives? Do you wonder how clean your airplane tray, movie seat arm rests, or hotel room phone are? You are not alone. Our area of concern is health care facilities, so let's look at those in more detail in today's post.
Surveillance and reporting are essential components of any facility’s infection control program. However, as Boromir might say, one does not simply collect and report data to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Before data can be reported, it must be validated first internally by the reporting facility and then externally by an external agency. But what is data validation? In today’s post, we will unfurl the map and trace data’s path from Hobbiton your facility to Mordor the NHSN.
This is a challenging time for nurses. With critically understaffed facilities, strikes, and the growing commercialization of healthcare, nurses find themselves being pulled between fulfilling their calling to help others, and finding a position that fulfills their own needs for a healthy work/life balance. The field of infection control is heavily impacted by the challenges faced by nurses. There is no health care professional more engaged in infection control than a nurse. In today's post, in honor of National Nurses Week, we will explore just how vital nurses are when it comes to infection control and prevention: We couldn't do it without them.
A remote infection preventionist is a professional who specializes in preventing the spread of infections within healthcare settings, but performs their duties remotely. A remote infection preventionist can work as a part of a larger team sub-contracted by the healthcare facility, or be directly employed by the facility. However, as the field of infection control and prevention (IP) faces challenges in staffing, funding, and substantial job responsibilities, outsourcing some aspects of IP may be a trend that is here for the foreseeable future. In today's post, we will examine which aspects of IP can be performed remotely, how far this trend has spread, and what the future may hold for the remote infection preventionist.
