News

Like other healthcare professionals, emergency medical service (EMS) personnel face the growing number of multidrug-resistant organisms. In addition to protecting themselves from possible infection, EMS providers must ensure that their vehicles and equipment are adequately cleaned and disinfected so as not to expose future patients.

Consistent implementation of proven measures to reduce and eliminate healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), and building these measures into work flows are among some of the biggest challenges to healthcare institutions today, says a group of experts who convened for a special panel hosted by Infection Control Today magazine to pinpoint the opportunities and challenges related to infection prevention and control. Our panel of experts included Rabih Darouiche, MD, director of the Center of Prostheses Infection at Baylor College of Medicine; Charles Edmiston, PhD, SM (ASCP), CIC, professor of surgery and hospital epidemiologist at Froedtert Hospital - Medical College of Wisconsin, and adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; Glenn Mitchell, MD, chief medical officer at the Sisters of Mercy Health System; Denise Murphy, RN, MPH, CIC, vice president for quality and patient Safety at Main Line Health System; and Ruth Shumaker, RN, BSN, CNOR, a healthcare management and perioperative consultant.