CDC Offers Webinar on CRE and C. difficile Prevention Efforts

We're at a tipping point -- an increasing number of germs no longer respond to the drugs designed to kill them. Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics and lack of infection control actions can contribute to drug-resistant infections such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and put patients at risk for deadly diarrhea (caused by Clostridium difficile). Even if one facility is following recommended infection controls, germs can be spread inside of and between healthcare facilities when patients are transferred from one healthcare facility to another without appropriate actions to stop spread. During this call, clinicians will hear from clinical experts on preventing antibiotic-resistant infections and improving antibiotic stewardship. Join the discussion to learn about work being done to implement a coordinated approach to protect patients from these potentially deadly infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will offer a webinar on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Participants can join by phone; registration not required. Audio required for webinar is as follows: 888-469-1370 (U.S. callers) or 517-308-9046 (international callers). The passcode is 3791890. To join by Webinar: https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join.php?i=PW5080898&p=3791890&t=c

Materials (slides, audio and transcript) will be posted to the webpage a few days after the live call at: http://emergency.cdc.gov/coca/calls/2015/callinfo_082015.asp

The moderator is Arjun Srinivasan, MD, associate director for Healthcare-Associated Infection Prevention Programs for the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the CDC.

The presenter(s) are Robert A. Weinstein, MD, the C. Anderson Hedberg MD Professor of Internal Medicine, the chief academic officer at Rush University Medical Center, and the former chairman of the Department of Medicine at Cook County Health and Hospitals System; as well as Sara Cosgrove, MD, MS, FSHEA, FIDSA, associate hospital epidemiologist, director of the antimicrobial stewardship program, and associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Source: CDC