Linda Spaulding, RN, BC, CIC, CHEC, CHOP: “Infection control people really have to monitor closely all respiratory viruses that are out there and be sure that you’re working actively with management to help put in place whatever needs to be put in place.”
Film healthcare workers as they don and doff N95s, show that video to participants (explaining where they got it right, and where they got it wrong), and then have the participants don and doff again with more input from trainers.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge, it is unlikely that contact tracing within healthcare will become anything less than critical.
Mary Ellen Beliveau: “If I’m an OB/GYN and all of a sudden I’m in the ICU, I don’t know how to run a ventilator. I’ve never run a ventilator before. I could be the best OB/GYN in the country. But suddenly, being put in a different area of practice and then to be expected to be at the top of my license is almost impossible.”
Investigators found SARS-CoV-2 "on various hospital objects, and these surfaces can be sources of nosocomial transmission via direct contact. Therefore, our findings provide an important basis for justification of strict contact precaution.”
Infection preventionists are of utmost importance to work with school systems and provide the safest strategies and environmental modifications which can suppress the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Maya Gossman, RN: “I tell people, I put tubes in veins, that’s what I do for a living. Anytime you break the skin and you place a tube into the bloodstream, that’s a huge risk for infection.”
The resources used to study hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) would have been better spent on more promising treatment modalities, such as studying Camostat mesilate or nafamostat mesylate therapy for COVID-19, a compound which has been shown to block TMPRSS2.
Northwell Health officials point out that their data showing the benefit of free testing and adequate supply of personal protective equipment come from healthcare workers who were on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.
Maine health officials relied on an automated system to provide contact tracing for COVID-19 to a relatively sparse and spread out population. It worked.
Mark Beeston: “Infection preventionists are a key component and a key gatekeeper in UVC technology and where it goes. Their recommendations are key and as clinical nurse leaders may be looking at providing additional tools, they want to consult with their infection prevention team.”
The concern is not only that COVID-19 significantly increases the burden to healthcare facilities during an already busy season, but that the potential for more testing in patients with non-specific respiratory virus symptoms could further strain testing capacity.
Taken together, the studies, published in JAMA Cardiology, say that the disease can possible cause long-term damage to the heart even in patients who exhibited only mild symptoms from COVID-19.
Jody Feigel, RN, MSN: “You find when you’re at home, you roll out of bed, you get your coffee, you immediately get on your computer, and you just work. When we’re at the hospital, we have a lot of interruptions and a lot of times they’re good interruptions, sometimes not so much. And we head out to see whatever fires need to be put out.”
Despite a clear record of violations across the country, amid a culture where sick staff were asked to show up for work, lawmakers in several states have also potentially disincentivized improvement of infection control standards in long-term care facilities by providing legal liability protections ahead of time.
A telework-ready infection preventionist is an IP who continues to support their facility if they also end up in quarantine. Teleworking like so many other aspects of nursing is something we just needed to jump into. No training, no guidebook, no manual.
Nancy Moureau, PhD, RN, CRNI, CPUI, VA-BC: “We see the competency of a vascular access specialist or team validated by the outcomes, by the level of infection with their patients, with other complications that may be present.”
The webinar ran well over the hour it had been scheduled for and drew at least 2500 viewers who watched it on average for 71 minutes. And there were 422 questions from the audience afterward.
Charles P. Gerba, PhD: “Unfortunately, standard procedures for testing and registration by regulatory agencies of CADs (continuously active sanitizers or disinfectants) as disinfectants useful in preventing exposure to disease causing microorganism transmission has only taken place in recent years.”
Nancy Moureau: “Our priority is to minimize infections or potentially even to eliminate them. We want complications to be history. In order to achieve those goals, I see the vascular access specialist or the vascular access teams as being in a partnership with the infection preventionist.”
Many factors make the isolation precautions for diseases like COVID-19 more complex than typical droplet or airborne definitions.
There’s been a sharp increase in sanitizers that claim to use ethanol, but instead have methanol—or wood alcohol—in them, according to the FDA.
Many patients in the study who did not require hospitalization experienced prolonged or persistent symptoms, nonetheless. In addition, the absence of underlying medical conditions does not automatically mean patients will not experiences these longer lasting symptoms.
Maureen Spencer, RN, M.Ed.: “The World Health Organization did come out and said that they support the concept that this is droplet and airborne. And what that does is it changes our approach for infection prevention.”
With inadequate disinfection practices, healthcare workers are much more likely to acquire pathogens on their hands after touching these surfaces, potentially passing them on to patients.
