Health. Care. | An Educational Blog

Usually we discuss products that fall under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in this blog, including disinfectants, cleaners, and biocidal surfaces. With the growth in UV light products, however, it's also important that we learn about how these devices are regulated, specifically, as medical devices. A medical device is typically an instrument (including implants) or in vitro reagent used to prevent, diagnose or treat a disease (in man or other animals) that uses mechanical rather than chemical (unmetabolized) means to achieve its purpose. In today's post, we'll look at one particular clearance as a way to unpack the basics in medical device regulation.

There are four fundamental aspects of endoscopes that lead to infection: Intricate design, biofilm formation, human error during reprocessing, and failure to dry properly. Much emphasis is being placed on the first: The intricate design of this technology that provides so many reservoirs for bacteria to escape cleaning and be transmitted to a vulnerable host. In today's post, we'll look at how design improvements have led to safer endoscopes, and what we can look forward to in the future of endoscope design.

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!)

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:

Achieving and maintaining sanitized surfaces in hospitals requires an arsenal cleaning and disinfecting products, with quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs or QUATs) being a popular choice. However, as with all cleaners and disinfectants, there are both benefits and risks to their use. In today's post, we'll explore the use of quaternary ammonium compounds and some growing concerns about their impact.

Every successful organization, from a small grassroots group to a global corporation, has a way for ideas to percolate through the system and find their way to the top decision-makers. Human ingenuity can come from anywhere, including cost-saving ideas (the matchbox), ways to attract new demographics (Flamin' Hot Cheetos), retain current customers (Starbucks), and of course, launch completely new products (PlayStation). From our last post, we know that hospitals and healthcare systems allocate their budgets in advance, with limited protocols for integrating innovations. How can the individual with an idea get that innovation in front of the right people at the right time, and of course, in the right way? In today's post, we'll explore one method to get you there.

Hospital finances are a complex process, involving all the parts of a service provider, a retail business, an investment venture, and a non-profit organization. Investment in medical innovations require buy-in from anyone (and everyone) from physicians and nurses all the way to the CFO and CEO. In today's post, we will introduce a series on the topic of how hospitals budget and spend money, and how an individual employee can use that information in order to bring an innovative idea to the right person at the right time. 

The perceived stability of the national economy impacts the willingness of the healthcare industry to invest in innovations with up-front costs. In times of relative economic stability, healthcare systems may be more willing and able to make up-front investments with returns that pay off in the short- and long-term. During times of more economic instability, healthcare systems may opt to pass on these same innovations in their efforts to cut immediate costs. What can make the difference? Quality data at sufficient quantity can mitigate risk-aversion during times of instability. In today's post, we will explore how to make the value proposition for infection control innovations even during times of economic volatility.

Infection preventionists and their colleagues are inundated with sales messages promoting the latest products, innovations, new formulations, and next big thing to buy for their facility. It's fairly easy to read between the lines of advertisements, weigh the scientific claims written in bold letters on a flyer, and disregard the emoji-filled email subject lines. But what about the review written up in a trade magazine? What about the speaker at a professional organization breakfast? What about the listing in a online product database? How does the busy infection preventionist or healthcare leader know when they are reading an unbiased review and when they are reading a sponsored pieced approved and paid for by the manufacturer?