Health. Care. | An Educational Blog

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 is, for a product to be described as protecting public health. These are products like disinfectants, HVAC filters, water treatments, and copper-infused biocidal surfaces such as EOScu and copper alloys. For everyone else, there is the "treated article" category which only allows products to be described as protecting the product itself from mold, mildew and odor-causing bacteria. However, consumers will often see in marketing materials that a product passed "JIS Z 2801" or "ISO 22196" or "ASTM E2149" tests with a percentage reduction in bacteria. In today's post, we'll look at what those tests measure and how they do not meet the rigor demanded by the EPA (and why marketing materials may try to imply that these tests are the same!)

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 your personal protective equipment protocols at your facility, right? Now consider this at a national scale: A 2021 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report revealed that "more than 50% of nursing home residents may be colonized with an MDRO," prompting the CDC to update its recommendations in July 2022, focusing on Enhanced Barrier Precautions (EBP) for residents with wounds and indwelling medical devices, who are at higher risk for MDRO colonization and transmission. In today's post, we'll look at what this means for long-term care facilities.

This post is intended to provide historical background for some of today's medical treatments. It is not intended to provide medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere these days: Generating images that fill our social feeds and ads, answering our questions via chatbots, and creating content for almost every field. In today's post, we will look at some recent research that demonstrates how AI might help lessen the load on infection preventionists (IPs) by helping sift through data and make surveillance and reporting more efficient.

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 upkeep, hospitals and healthcare facilities must meet the standards set by a number of federal, state, and local laws, agencies, and regulators. In today's post, we'll look at some of the more visible groups keeping hospitals safe, as well as some that may surprise you.

Today's post looks at the team in the trenches, the boots on the ground, the hands-on technicians: Environmental Services.