Strike Force: Preventing Transmission When Pandemic Flu Hits Your Hospital

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about how influenza is transmitted, and how you can protect yourself and your patients from infection. This course, will discuss the roles (or not!) of large droplets, droplet nuclei and surface contamination in the spread of influenza. Scientific studies along with the epidemiology of actual patient and healthcare provider infections will be presented as we explore diversity of pathways. Reservoir disruption activities and the appropriate personal protective equipment will be addressed. Practical recommendations will be described that can readily be put into practice by every hospital employee and could help contain an influenza outbreak threat.

Objectives:

• Explain the historical impact of pandemic influenzas over the last two centuries
• Identify the means of pandemic influenza transmission
• Describe appropriate means of protection for various exposure risks during patient care
• List 5 practices staff can implement tomorrow (without added cost) to reduce nosocomial infections

Eligible for 1.0 contact hour(s) of continuing education

Sponsored by:

Speaker:

Wava M. Truscott, PhD MBA
Dr. Wava Truscott is Director, Scientific Affairs and Clinical Education in the Medical Sciences
Department of Kimberly-Clark Health Care. Dr. Truscott utilizes her years of experience in healthcare, knowledge of disease states and passion for infection prevention, to support product development from healthcare needs through research and development and into product education.