In this fascinating AJIC Science Into Practice episode, hosts Nikki and Jessica explore the crucial topic of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with guest Dr. Carolyn Chu, Chief Clinical Officer of the National Clinician Consultation Center. They discuss the PEP line, a teleconsultation service supporting healthcare providers who manage exposures to bloodborne pathogens. The trio delves into the intricacies of PEP, the delay in its initiation, managing various exposures, and ensuring healthcare workers, particularly in urgent care, receive appropriate training and preparation to handle exposure properly and safely. With special guest: Carolyn Chu, MD, MSc, FAAFP, AAHIVS, Chief Clinical Officer/Principal Investigator of the National Clinician Consultation Center

In this podcast, hosts delve right into an enlightening discussion with Dr. Michael Charness, Dr. Kalpana Gupta, and Dr. Katherine Linsenmeyer about transmission dynamics in infection control. They particularly zero in on an investigation into the aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 hours after hospital room changeovers, touching on key findings such as the significance of reversion mutations. They underline the key takeaways from this genomic epidemiology study and its implications for infection prevention. With special guests: Michael E. Charness, MD, Chief of Staff, VA Boston Healthcare System Kalpana Gupta, MD, MPH, Associate Chief of Staff and Chief of Infectious Disease, VA Boston Healthcare System Katherine Linsenmeyer, MD, Hospital Epidemiologist, VA Boston Healthcare System

In the podcast, guests Dr. Cynthia Lakon and Dr. John Hipp discuss their research on the socio-spatial health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic in US skilled nursing facilities. They discuss the factors that influence the pervasiveness of the pandemic within these facilities, such as the social and economic condition of the surrounding area, the funding allocated to the nursing home, and the size of the nursing home itself. They also delve into the methodology of their research, their data sources, and the crucial role of considering geographic context in their study. Tune in to learn more about this critical aspect of public health. With special guests: Cynthia M. Lakon, Ph.D, Professor in the Department of Health, Society, and Behavior, University of California - Irvine and John R. Hipp, Ph.D, Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society, and Sociology, University of California - Irvine

In this engaging podcast episode our guests, Heather Dixon, Mathea Schafer, and Dr. Mohamed Yassin, discuss their article about the automated traffic monitoring of the Neurosurgical Operating Room. Listen to get insights on their research, professional journeys, and innovative techniques used in the study. With special guests: Mohamed Yassin, MD, PhD, Infectious Disease Physician, and Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Mathea Schafer, MPH, Infection Preventionist, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Heather Dixon, MSN, RN, CPHQ, CIC, Director of Quality, Safety, and Infection Prevention, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Want to stay updated on the latest in infection prevention and control? Join hosts Nicki Shore and Jessica Swain in the "Science into Practice" podcast brought to you by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. In their most recent episode, they welcomed Dr. Jose Cadena and Ms. Delvina (Mimi) Ford to talk about their recent research on Hospital-Acquired Candida Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The guests unraveled their experiences, shared concerning insights on the increased incidence of candidemia due to extended ICU stays during the pandemic, and discussed the shift in species detected and the challenges posed by multidrug-resistant strains. Tune in as they dive deeper into the intersection of infection control and COVID-19. Get inspired and find areas for your own research! With special guests: Delvina (Mimi) Ford, MPH, BSN, CIC, CPHQ, CCRN-k, Quality Management Consultant, VISN 17 and Dr. Jose Cadena, MD, Infection Prevention and Control Medical Director, South Texas Veterans Healthcare System

Did you ever wonder how Infection Prevention Program Standards were developed for Critical Access Hospitals? In this podcast, IP experts discuss their work in customizing standards to meet the unique needs of smaller hospitals. They share the challenges faced, the importance of supporting IPs in such settings, and the role of the APIC-IP competency model. They also discus the impact of these changes on staffing, management, and critical areas like ENDO and OR. Join them as they share valuable insights and strategies that led to their success. Listen now! With special guests: Kathleen McMullen, MPH, CIC, FAPIC, FSHEA, Director for Infection Prevention at Mercy, Angela Gray, BA, BSN, RN, CIC, Infection Prevention Specialist for Aspirus St. Luke's, and Jessica Banks, RN, Infection Preventionist and Education Coordinator, Mercy Hospital Aurora and Cassville

Dive into the lesser-known realms of infection prevention as we uncover the fascinating roles of Infection Preventionists (IPs) beyond the traditional healthcare settings. Our guests are renowned experts Joan Hebden, Dana Piatek, and Dr. Katreena Merrill, who will share insights from the 2020 APIC Mega Survey, discuss their work in public health and academia, and reveal how they are striving to multiply the field of infection prevention. Learn about their paths, achievements, and the critical work they are doing in infection prevention and control. With special guests: Katreena Merrill, PhD, RN, CIC, FAPIC, Professor, Brigham Young University (BYU) College of Nursing, Joan N. Hebden, MS, RN, CIC, FAPIC, FSHEA, President of IPC Consulting Group LLC, and Dana Piatek, MPH, MSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC, Clinical Consultant with GOJO Industries

In this podcast episode of Science into Practice by the American Journal of Infection Control, hosts Nicki Shore and Jessica Swain have a fascinating discussion with infection prevention experts, Dr. Sara Reese and Jordan Zepeda. They discuss an interesting study about the increase in Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The experts shed light on whether supply chain disruptions and protocol changes may have contributed to the phenomenon while discussing modifiable risk factors that could impact prevention strategies. A must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the intricate links between the pandemic and other healthcare challenges. With special guests: Sara Reese, PhD, MPH,CIC, FAPIC, Regional Director of Infection Prevention, Intermountain Health and Jordan Zepeda, MPH, CIC, Infection Prevention Manager, Swedish Medical Center

In this episode of the American Journal of Infection Control Podcast, host Nikki Shore speaks with Dr. Jennifer Sanguinet, Director of Infection Prevention at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, and Gerard Marshall, Manager of Infection Prevention at the same institution. They discuss their recent study on ventilator-associated events and the implementation of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) Ventilator Weaning Protocol. Discover the triggers, risk factors, and categories related to ventilator-associated events, as well as how to apply the research findings in practice. Join us to learn about their valuable insights in preventing infection. With special guests: Jennifer Sanguinet, DrPH, MBA-HCM, BSIS, CIC, FAPIC, Director Infection Prevention, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Sunrise Children’s Hospital and Gerard Marshall, BS, AS, RRT, CIC, Manager of Infection Prevention, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Sunrise Children’s Hospital

Do you want to know how to improve infection prevention in your hospital? Join us as we speak to those in the field of infection prevention and control, like us, as well as other experts to learn about the latest research in the field and how you can implement it. We are talking to Casey Lewis and Victoria Crall, two senior infection preventionists at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, to discuss their quality improvement initiative strategies for deploying ultraviolet disinfection in an acute care facility. Hear about the Tru-D device used and how their partnership with the environmental services team successfully allowed them to paint inpatient room walls for better disinfection. Join us to hear all about it! With special guests: Casey Lewis, BA, CIC, Senior Infection Preventionist, University of Pittsburg Medical Center Presbyterian - Shadyside and Victoria Crall, MPH, CIC, Senior Infection Preventionist, University of Pittsburg Medical Center Presbyterian - Shadyside

Does longer treatment of C. difficile infection lead to fewer recurrences in patients taking concurrent antibiotics? Join us as we interview Irina Rajakumar on her research into the impact of CDI length of treatment on recurrent rates. Hear her discuss the study design and the impact of demographics such as age, clinical services, and concurrent antibiotics, and analyze if an infectious disease consultation influenced the outcome. Tune in to learn more about her work and how it can be applied to practice. With special guest: Irina Rajakumar, Infectious Disease and Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist, Alberta Health Services

Have you ever wondered how infection prevention professionals investigate and mitigate food-borne illnesses? Join us to hear from Lisa Stancill and Madison Ponder on their study of a Salmonella Javiana outbreak in two hospitals. As they discuss the methodological challenges and lessons learned, they provide insight into the impact of immunocompromised patients, collecting valid data, and how communication between hospitals and health departments occurs. Tune in to learn more about the fascinating world of infection control and prevention! With special guests: Lisa Stancill, Epidemiologist, The University of North Carolina Hospitals and Madison Ponder, Pharmacoepidemiology PhD Student, The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Have you ever wondered what prompted a CHG patient refusal bathing study? Join hosts Nikki Shore and Jessie Swain as the podcast "Science into Practice" dives into this topic with Yvette Williams, a nurse who studied CHG bathing in critical and non-critical areas. Hear how Yvette used her experience to create educational materials and one-on-one sessions to educate staff and foster CHG bathing compliance. Tune in to learn more! With special guest: Yvette Williams, MHA, BSN-RN, CNIV, Duke Regional Hospital

Are you looking to learn about the latest research in the field of infection prevention and control? Join us as we speak to Dr. Stella Hines, MD, MSPH, an occupational medicine physician and pulmonologist, about her study on user acceptance and preference for a novel reusable respirator among healthcare workers. Find out the different types of reusable respiratory protective devices and why user comfort and tolerability is important for increasing compliance with respiratory protection programs. Don't miss this episode to learn and apply this new information to your work! With special guest: Dr. Stella Hines, Field Studies Branch Chief in the Respiratory Health Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Are you an Infection Preventionist looking to learn more about the Healthcare Association of New York's State Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative in 2015? Join us as we talk to Dr. Danielle Durant about her research and paper evaluation of the Collaborative. Dr. Durant provides us with an extensive background on HANES and the AUR Module of NHSN, revealing how the Collaborative's two aims were to prepare hospitals for mandated usage reporting and develop a robust program to help them prevent MDROs. With special guest: Dr. Danielle Durant

Do airborne contaminants increase the risk of prosthetic joint infections? In this podcast, Dr. John Harp discusses his observational study on sterile field bioburden levels in operating rooms in the United States and the risks associated with rising microbe carrying particles. Dr. Harp shares his expertise in the field, as he has a background in engineering and orthopedic surgery, and has implemented industrial cleanroom techniques in the operating room for improved patient safety. He also explains the ASHRAE 170 standard, and how the use of a settle plate technique has helped to measure viable particles in the critical zone. Listen now to discover how increased air quality standards can reduce the risk of PGI. With special guest: Dr. John Harp, Baptist Health, Fort Smith

Concerns and frustrations about inconsistencies with the public reporting of device-related healthcare associated infections: Perspectives of hospital leaders and staff. With special guest: Sarah MacEwan PhD, Ohio State University

In this episode, Drs Hessels and Larson describe how a positive patient safety climate contributes to improved adherence to infection prevention and control practices. This study produced findings not previously published thus advancing the state of the science in patient and occupational health and safety and infection prevention and control. These include identifying modifiable features of the safety climate and key organizational characteristics associated with better outcomes. With special guests: Amanda Hessels PhD RN CIC Assistant Professor at Columbia University, School of Nursing and a Nurse Scientist at Hackensack Meridian Health Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, FAAN, CIC Professor Emerita, School of Nursing and Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, and Senior Scholar in Residence, New York Academy of Medicine

In this episode, Drs Krouss and Cho describe an intervention they did to decrease the amount of inappropriate urine cultures being ordered. They share with our audience how unnecessary urine cultures can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria. Their novel approach to fixing the problem consists of a change to the ordering screen in the electronic medical record which requires entry of the reason for the urine cultures and a Best Practice Advisory (BPA) that appears when urine cultures are ordered for a patient. Their intervention resulted in significant decrease of unnecessary urine cultures. Tune in to this must hear episode! With special guests: Mona Krouss, MD Assistant Vice President for Value & Patient Safety for NYC Health + Hospitals and Harry (Hyung Jin) Cho Vice President of Quality at Brigham and Women's Hospital and faculty at Harvard School of Medicine

In this episode, our guest Ms. Wilson shares with us success and the key components of a robust hand hygiene observer training program using the 5 Moments. Ms. Wilson breaks down the importance of feedback, asking questions, improving communication skills and strategies to make an effective hand hygiene program affordable. With special guest: Kimberly B. Wilson, MPH Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

COVID-19 added stress to infection preventionists resulting in anxiety, depression and burnout in their work lives that may have impacted their well-being. In this podcast episode, Dr. Melnyk speaks about infection preventionists’ mental and physical health and lifestyle behaviors during the pandemic and their associations with perceived worksite wellness support, shift length, and race and/or ethnicity. With special guest: Bernadette Melnyk PhD, APRN-CNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, Ohio State University Vice President for Health Promotion, University Chief Wellness Officer, Dean and Helene Fuld Health Trust Professor of Evidence-Based Practice, College of Nursing

In this study Dr. Sood and colleagues explore if the risk of a patient getting Clostridioides difficile Infection (CDI) is higher if the room was previously occupied by a C. diff patient. Previous single-center studies suggest that exposure to a room previously occupied by a patient with C. diff infection (CDI) may increase the risk of C. diff infection in subsequent patients. Dr. Sood and colleagues evaluated the risk of previous room occupant on CDI risk across 5 adult hospitals. With special guest: Geetika Sood, MD ScM Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Hospital Epidemiologist and Assistant Professor- John Hopkins Baltimore Medical Center and Health Service Researcher – JHHS

Dr. Cervantes speaks on how she and her colleagues did a cross-sectional study using data derived from the 2020 APIC MegaSurvey to describe the state of infection prevention and control programs and personnel across nonacute clinical settings in the United States. Listen in as Dr. Cervantes tells us what the findings from this work means for the field of infection prevention and control. With special guest: Diana Cervantes, MS, MPH DrPH

John Boyce, MD, a renowned infectious disease specialist and hospital epidemiologist and colleague Richard Martinello, MD a medical director of infection prevention devised an innovative method to assess how well HCPs perform hand hygiene using portable thermal imaging. Check out how they were able to better examine hand hygiene technique. Dr. Cervantes speaks on how she and her colleagues did a cross-sectional study using data derived from the 2020 APIC MegaSurvey to describe the state of infection prevention and control programs and personnel across nonacute clinical settings in the United States. Listen in as Dr. Cervantes tells us what the findings from this work means for the field of infection prevention and control. With special guests: John Boyce, MD President at J.M. Boyce Consulting LLC and Richard A. Martinello, MD, Medical Director of Infection Prevention, Yale School of Medicine

Join our hosts Jessie Swain and Nicki Shorr as they talk with Dr. Janet Glowicz, a Senior Infection Preventionist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion on pragmatic suggestions to improve safe handling of laundered healthcare textiles. This practice forum is based on multiple outbreak reports over the last decade and observations of practices CDC has made during responses. With special guests: Janet Glowicz, Senior Infection Preventionist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion

Join our host Jessie Swain as she talks with Erin Sparnon, a member of the team at ECRI that surveyed sterile processing staff to learn about human factors issues in the cleaning process and share best practices. With special guest: Erin Sparnon MEng

Listen in as our hosts Nicki Shorr and Jessie Swain talk to Dr. Marybeth Sexton to discuss her research into the risk factors for isolation of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales from normally sterile sites and the implications for infection prevention. With special guest: Mary Elizabeth Sexton MD, MSc

Tune in to hear our hosts Nicki Shorr and Jessie Swain talk with Dr. Valerie Vaughn about partnering to reduce overuse of antibiotics when patients are discharged. With special guest: Valerie Vaughn, MD, MSc

Tune in to hear our hosts Nicki Shorr and Jessie Swain talk with Ann Scheck McAlearney, ScD, MS about how executive leadership attention and strategic communication strategies can help support evidence-based infection prevention practices. With special guest: Ann Scheck McAlearney, ScD, MS

Tune in to hear our hosts Nicki Shorr and Jessie Swain talk with infection preventionists Rachel Guran and Kelsi Canavan along with Dr. Paula Eckardt about containing a carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii complex outbreak in a COVID-19 intensive care unit. With special guests: Rachel Guran, MPH, BSN, RN, CIC, Kelsi Canavan, MPH, MPA, CIC and Paula A. Eckardt, MD, FACP, FIDSA, AAHIVS

Listen as our hosts speak with researcher Jingjing Shang about increasing flu vaccination of home healthcare personnel using policies, easy access to vaccine, and incentives. Also, tune in to hear from infection preventionist Debra Runyan about what a decade-long study tells us about how fogging can help in efforts to reduce C. difficile.

Listen as our hosts speak with Infection Preventionist Lisa Sturm about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital-onset bloodstream infections (HOBSI) in one large health system. What can we learn from this system's experiences during the pandemic to help us reduce healthcare-associated infections?

Listen as we speak with our guests about how technology can impact the daily work of infection preventionists, specifically using the electronic medical record (EMR) to better predict possible outbreaks, respond to them more quickly, and to better differentiate between community and hospital onset infections. Further, we'll discuss possible methods of improving patient outcomes while in isolation, the lack of quality evidence for effective interventions, and the need for future research in this area.

Listen as our hosts talk with Dr. Gina Piscitello of Rush University Medical Center about a study she and her colleagues conducted entitled “COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Health Care Workers, Communication and Policy-Making.” During this episode hosts discuss the Health Belief Model used in this study, whether vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers impacts public hesitancy, who the public trusts for advice on vaccination, and what the implications are for the current pandemic and future events.  

Listen as our hosts talk with Dr. Selcen Kilinc-Balci, an author of a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study that illustrates the importance of looking closely at how gowns and gloves work together to protect healthcare workers. The discussion provides insight into what can be done now to help protect healthcare personnel, and what may be considered as part of future standards development.

Listen as our hosts talk with educator and researcher Dr. Zainab Toteh Osakwe about her article on the intense experiences of Home Health Aides during the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City. Learn how this situation applies to the everyday infection prevention needs of HHAs and how we can better meet their critical need for information.

Listen as our hosts talk with another infection preventionist (IP) and a physician about IP and anesthesia working together on PPE. Next, they talk with the inventor of a new automated device that captures portable medical equipment disinfection data. Go to AJIC for more information about our guests and to access the related AJIC articles.

Listen as our hosts discuss the intensity of the experiences of infection preventionists (IPs) during the first 9-months of the COVID-19 pandemic through input gleaned from IPs in rural, urban and suburban settings. These experiences serve to highlight the important role of IPs in pandemic preparedness, emergency management, and crisis standards of care.

Infection preventionists discuss two issues with authors of articles in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC): (1) the shedding of MRSA and multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacilli and how to prevent the spread of these organisms outpatient settings; (2) how a team science approach can be helpful in bringing together antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention teams and the importance of team science approaches in general.