Infection Control Matters

Martin chats to Phil in Melbourne following a recent presentation. Yes, two old farts reminiscing about the days of wearing out the boot leather collecting surveillance data talk with envy about the potential of HAI surveillance in the era of the electronic medical record, automation and artificial intelligence. Phil refers to data in these two publications: Designing Surveillance of Healthcare-As...

We discuss One Health in this episode with Professor Tom Riley, using C.difficile as the example of explaining why the concept of One Health is so important.   Tom is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, the Australian Society for Microbiology, the American Academy of Microbiology, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Patho...

This week, Martin talks to Jincy Jerry, Assistant Director of Nursing in Infection Prevention and Control at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. Jincy is a pioneer in the use of Robotic Process Automation in clinical settings within Irish Healthcare. Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots t...

In this podcast, we talk about the CLEEN and I-CLEEN studies. These are a RCT and quasi-experimental genomics study aiming to determine the effect of additional cleaning of shared medical equipment of the frequency of healthcare associated infections.  We also make phone call mid podcast... A shout out to all the team involved in this project, including being wonderfully coordinated by Dr Kate Bro...

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Sinèad Horgan, Director of Nursing South/South West Hospital Group, and School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork in Ireland. We discuss a journey towards surgical site sueveillance and quality improvement and her recent papers on this topic. We discuss knowledge, attitudes, gaining engagement, buy-in and the i...

In this episode, we discuss a paper in the Lancet Infectious Disease about preventing non-ventilator associate pneumonia including the determinants of implementation success. Brett and Martin chat with Dr Aline Wolfensberger and Professor Hugo Sax, authors of this paper about this important work. Link to paper: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00812-X/fulltext   D...

Brett Mitchell talks to Dr Sarah Browning and Professor Josh Davis about a recent paper in Infection, Disease and Health - "Have gloves and gowns had their day?" The evidence for gloves and gowns is discussed, as well as results from a recent survey into their use in Australia and New Zealand. Sarah is an infectious disease physician and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at the Hunter N...

In this episode Phil talks to A/Prof Noleen Bennett* about the state of surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship and what her research has discovered in this area. Noleen also tells about an exciting project she is leading called NISPAC, a streamlined infection and antimicrobial use surveillance system for Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities. *Associate Professor Noleen Bennett. Infectio...

In this episode recorded at the 2023 SHEA Spring Meeting in Seattle, Martin talks to Associate Professor Alex Sundermann about his work on sequencing all isolates from local healthcare settings and the discoveries that this enables. Healthcare infections due to previous admissions, endoscopes, even pseudo-outbreaks are all laid bare by this approach. Some recent papers from the group are listed be...

In this second discussion of an abstract presented at the SHEA Spring meeting 2023 in Seattle, Martin talks to MPH candidate Olivia Hess about her work on staff opinions of automated hand hygiene monitoring. Olivia works as a member of Dr Gonzalo Bearman's group at VCU Health (Virginia Commonwealth University) in Richmond, Virginia. We discuss staff attitudes to the technology and it's utility, wh...

In this episode recorded at the 2023 SHEA Spring Meeting in Seattle, Martin talks to abstract presenter Dr Lamia Alam about the work of a Johns' Hopkins group on a systematic review of human factors relating to cleaning in the Operating Room. We discuss the abstract presented at the meeting and also previous work in human factors and environmental service workers from this group that are particula...

This is the 100th episode of Infection Control Matters and includes a special announcement. A big thanks to our 110+ guests so far. In this podcast, Martin, Brett and Phil talk about what we've not covered, some stats and what is to come next.   Check out out new website: https://infectioncontrolmatters.com/

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Valeria Fabre, Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and  Associate Medical Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and an Associate Hospital Epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. We discuss the recent SHEA position paper on practical aspects of diagnostic stewardship and the use of the diagnosti...

In this episode Brett and Martin talk to Mairéad Skally and Prof Fidelma Fitzpatrick about their efforts to minimise Clostridioides difficile infections in the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. Mairéad is a Surveillance Scientist and Fidelma is a Consultant Microbiologist and also Head of Department of Clinical Microbiology at the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland). We discuss 10 years of sur...

In this week's episode, Martin talks to Professor Jean-Yves Maillard from the Cardiff School of Pharmacy in Wales. We discuss detention, removal and prevention of biofilms in wet and dry environments. A range of papers on this topic from his group are listed below. D. I. Centeleghe, et al. 2023 Klebsiella pneumoniae survives on surfaces as a dry biofilm Am J Infect Control https://doi:10.1016/j.aj...

In this week's episode, Brett and Martin talk to Dr Mark Garvey, Consultant Clinical Scientist at University Hospitals Birmingham in the UK. We discuss a new paper from the UHB team which looks at the practical aspects of contamination within the splash radius of a clinical hand hygiene sink in a critical care area. The range of high risk equipment within the zone is quite interesting! Papers ment...

We talk about the knowledge attitudes and practice of nurses regarding oral hygiene of dependent inpatients in this podcast with Dr Isabel Oliveira. Understanding these is an important element of improving oral care and potentially reducing hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) more broadly.  Isbael is a rehabilitation nurse with a particular focus and interest in dysphagia and oral care, including th...

In this episode, Brett talks to Associate Professor Matthew Davis about his clinical experience and recent systematic review, exploring the topic of whether indwelling vs intermittent catheterisation increases the risk of UTI. Matt is an Associate Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at McGovern Medical School in Houston and has a strong clinician background in caring for people with Sp...

In this first episode of 2023, Martin talks to Melissa Rochon and Prof Judith Tanner about their recent paper in the Journal of Hospital Infection that reports on the use of patient-generated images in SSI surveillance.   Papers discussed: 1. Rochon M, et al. Image-based digital post-discharge surveillance in England: measuring patient enrolment, engagement, clinician response times, surgical site...

In the final podcast of the year, we reflect on some lighthearted moments from 2022 and share our thoughts on a few favourite papers, reflections and podcasts. Being the Christmas special, it isn't too serious.. See you in 2023! Brett's highlighted papers: 1. Peters A, et al. Impact of environmental hygiene interventions on healthcare-associated infections and patient colonization: a systematic re...

In this week's episode, Brett and Martin talk to Dr Emma Burnett, Head of Campus, Fatima College of Health Sciences, Ajman, UAE. We discuss a recent collaborative that has resulted in two papers that examine the development of a conceptual framework that underpins the formation of an optimal infection prevention service. The papers that we discuss are listed below. 1. Robinson J, et al. Designing...

In this week's episode Martin talks to Brett and Professor Maria Northcote about a recent paper on the expeciences of healthcare-associated infection on the lives of patients. The importance of communication is one of the avenues that we go down. 1. Mitchell BG, et al. Patients' perspectives of healthcare-associated infection: 'you don't know what impacts it will have on your life'. J Hosp Infect....

In this week's episode, Brett, Phil and Martin have a catch-up at the ACIPC conference in Sydney following Brett's session in which the audience were invited to select their priorities for action over the next year. Would the HCAIS that present the biggest burden (HAP and CAUTI) figure highly?

In this special episode for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, Martin talks to UKHSA subject experts about the ESPAUR Report (English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance) released earlier today. You can find out more on the report at the ESPAUR webinar on 23rd November and can register here to attend: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/espaur-report-2021-to-2022-webina...

In this episode, recorded live on stage in front of an audience at the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) Conference being held in Sydney. Brett, Phil and Martin talk to Sally HAvers and Belinda Henderson about the challenges facing IPC workers in aged care in Australia and future priorities for IPC going forward in acute care.