Transmission Control

Welcome to another three-part installment of the Transmission Control Newsflash! In the first part of this miniseries Justin and Larry start the conversation on Candida auris, a deadly fungus that might be spreading due to issues with medical device reprocessing. Want to see more? Check out our LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transmissioncontrol/ #infectionprevention #TransmissionC...

How do you navigate rapidly changing and competing guidance from industry, national and various state organizations?  Laws regarding outbreak reporting also varies greatly from state-to-state and how do you develop a consistent protocol when your health organization spans multiple states?  Catherine Kroll joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella to share her experiences and insights related to...

Should medical device manufacturers employ a reprocessing specialist during the development process?  Should recalls and updates impact the entire family of devices connected to the predicate device?  Does laboratory testing fall short of real-world practicality?  Jason Minutillo joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella to discuss a number of topics related to medical device design that create...

Surgical Services can be an intimidating area for Infection Prevention team members who don't have experience working in the PeriOperative environment.  How can a background in Public Health and Epidemiology make you a resource to your sterile processing department?  We find out today, as Garrett Hollembeak shares his experiences as a Manager of Sterile Processing with a unique background in Publi...

Do you dread visits from surveyors and auditors?  Let's be honest, most of us do.  However, regulatory agencies perform a necessary purpose and so do your regulatory and accreditation partners within your healthcare facility.  Infection Prevention collaboration and participation in mock surveys can be critical to making improvements proactively.  Amy Asleson joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Musca...

How can we make the MAUDE database more usable?  Can we create incentives to ensure that the data housed in the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting database can be used to evaluate trending and identify otherwise undetected risks with medical devices?  Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella speak with Ryan Bass gain his insight into the current problems, gaps and potential solutions for optimizing the d...

If you work in healthcare, then you are a patient advocate.  You have the experience and expertise to influence change, but so often we may not be confident in speaking up.  Today's episode is a great example of bravery and what it means to do the right thing.  Jill Berends joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella to share her personal advocate scenario, partnering with Infection Prevention an...

Infection prevention has become an increasingly significant financial concern for hospitals since the accountable care act went into effect.  Chronic wound care is costly.  What are the primary causes, risk factors and microorganisms that may be involved with chronic wounds?  How do chronic illnesses such as diabetes impact the healing process?  Joe Stoffel joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscar...

Did you know that you can be involved in the creation of new industry standards for healthcare?  Pamela Arora, the new President and CEO of AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella following her first week at AAMI, which happened to be a very busy one.  Pamela discusses a recent meeting with the standards development volunteers,...

The second phase of the pandemic has hit healthcare hard; staffing shortages.  How have you been able to deal with the sustained burden and chronic fatigue that can trap us in the constant cortisol response?  Dr. Hudson Garret has a great deal of expertise, but especially as a resiliency practitioner and joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella on this episode of Transmission Control to offer...

How much do you know about the chemicals that are used to reprocess reusable endoscopes?  With the advancing design complexity of these devices, effective cleaning solutions are critical to patient safety.  Kris Murphy has spent his career in research/development and joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella to provide an overview of the chemistries used to clean and disinfect flexible endoscop...

Minimally invasive surgery was introduced to reduce the rate of infection, but the technology has come a long way. In recent years, single use devices have emerged as an alternative to reprocessing medical devices with a focus most recently in the world of endoscopy. Dr. Stephen Snyder has been performing procedures since the beginning and joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella to provide hi...

Infection prevention audits are critical to continuous improvement, but may not always be welcomed by department staff.  What can be done to improve receptiveness and encourage collaboration when sharing the results of the audits?  If you don't have auditing tools in place, where do you even start?  What resources are available to you?  Misty Dillon speaks with Dr. Larry Muscarella and Justin Poul...

What level of trust to do you have in the healthcare industry?  What does it mean to truly advocate for patient safety and the public interest?  What can you be doing as healthcare workers and consumers to influence positive change?  Lisa McGiffert, Patient Safety Activist at Patient Safety Action Network joins Dr. Larry Muscarella and Justin Poulin to share her passion for patient advocacy and en...

Hand washing has taken the stage, front and center during the pandemic. With over 50 billion moments of hand hygiene occurring annually in acute care settings, there are so much potential for human error. So what can we do about it?! Carmela Mascio, President & Co-Founder at LivOnyx joins Dr. Larry Muscarella and Justin Poulin to share her experience becoming an entrepreneur, her work in antibioti...

On this episode of Transmission Control, we tackle the topics of design & improvements to medical devices and the guidelines and standards which guide them. Christian Berling joins Dr. Larry Muscarella and Justin Poulin to share his experience dating back over a decade regarding the research & development of reusable laryngoscopes, and discuss variations in the standards of care from one manufactu...

Have we lost our patient focus when it comes to regulating and evaluating hospital performance?  Has this resulted in a cost shift away from patient care?  Could all these agencies come together and create a single unified system for surveillance and surveys?  Dr. Salah Qutaishat joins Dr. Larry Muscarella and Justin Poulin to discuss his thoughts on aligning regulatory guidelines and hospital sur...

Have you ever thought about the purpose of the white paper that pulls down over the exam table when you visit your primary care physician's office?  Do gloves give the general public and healthcare practitioners a false sense of security?  How do we ensure that cleaning and disinfection processes have been done correctly in Primary Care offices?  Jim Gauthier joins Dr. Larry Muscarella and Justin...

Hospital beds and mattresses are the highest touch surfaces in healthcare facilities around the world.  This represents a significant opportunity for the transmission and cross infection of dangerous bacterium such as C. diff.  Not only the mattress, but the beds and frames themselves.  On this episode of Transmission Control, we asked Bruce Rippe, CEO at Trinity Guardion to join Dr. Larry Muscare...

Can carpet be just as safe and possibly more effectively cleaned than vinyl floors in the healthcare setting? In the acute care setting, healthcare professionals are very familiar with vinyl floors and assume that they are easier and more effectively cleaned.  However, in long term care facilities there are additional considerations such making the environment have a warmer feel and home-like. On...

Are your hospital scrubs actually clean? What does that process even look like at your facility? Are they laundered onsite? Offsite? Or even washed at home?  If your hospital or another 3 rd party launders them for you, how can you be certain that you get your uniform back?  On this week's episode of Transmission Control, Aniruddha Banerjee, Director & Global Head of Healthcare at Lindström joins...

Why should hospitals take a dynamic approach toward technology supporting the infection prevention and control efforts of environmental services?  Tune in to this week's episode of the Transmission Control podcast and find out!  Often times, hospital procedures are in direct conflict with the desired outcomes for patients.  Marc-Oliver Wright joins Justin Poulin and Dr. Larry Muscarella to talk ab...

The pandemic not only required more Infection Prevention & Control professionals to manage the urgent call for support, but it also expedited retirement plans for many nurses who were in the high risk age group.  Hospitals now find themselves struggling to fill existing positions as they attempt to expand their Infection Prevention and Control teams.  On this week's episode of Transmission Control...

Environmental Services touches every surface of the hospital, but do we always recognize how integral they are to the infection control team?  Additionally, EVS workers have direct patient contact but have you considered how much influence they have on the patient experience?  Did you know that the patient care experience has a direct impact on the healthcare organizations finances?  Darrel Hicks...

There is no doubt that Long Term Care facilities were hit hard during the pandemic.  In many cases, these facilities do not have a dedicated infection control practitioner on staff which represented a significant gap in preparedness planning and exacerbated the struggles of reacting quickly and effectively to the viral threat.  On this week's episode of Transmission Control, Buffy   Lloyd-Krejci j...