Kimberly-Clark Offers Accredited Programs to Infection Control Practitioners

ROSWELL, Ga. -- As corporate sponsor of  Infection Control Week 2004, Kimberly-Clark Health Care is providing professional education programs around the prevention of respiratory and nosocomial infections.

Beginning Oct. 18, infection control practitioners, respiratory therapists and other clinicians are invited to register for two new online seminars from the Kimberly-Clark Knowledge Network series of speaker presentations, including Respiratory Disease in a World That Breathes and Preventing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia.

"The goal of our educational programs is to focus on the topics that have an impact on improving outcomes across the health care continuum," said Wava Truscott, PhD, Kimberly-Clark's director of scientific affairs and clinical education. "Through Respiratory Disease in a World that Breathes and our second session, Preventing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia, we are doing what we can to support the efforts put forth by health care workers to control infections and protect patients and staff."

Presented by Truscott, Respiratory Disease in a World that Breathes is the first in a series of online seminars and traces the impact of respiratory diseases from the pandemics and epidemics of history through new, emerging diseases. The course will also review today's top respiratory disease threats in terms of prevalence and mortality/morbidity rates, as well as recommendations and guidelines to protect patients and health care professionals.

Preventing Ventilator Associated Pneumonia examines causes, incidence, and strategies to prevent VAPs, lung infections that effect up to 25 percent of all ventilator patients.

Infection Control Week 2004 is a program of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).  "Through sponsors like Kimberly-Clark, we all benefit from these valuable educational opportunities on timely topics, made accessible through flexible online seminars," said APIC executive director Kathy Warye.  "We applaud Kimberly-Clark's support of the healthcare industry as demonstrated by their offering these programs at no cost to clinicians and infection control practitioners."

The online seminars are part of the Kimberly-Clark Knowledge Network, a dynamic educational resource designed to provide insight and information on critical

health issues through accredited courses for health care professionals. In addition to facilitated, on-site educational sessions, other Knowledge Network offerings include:

        -- Education Video and Study Guide Programs (K-C representative facilitated)

        -- Excellence In Sterile Processing Series (K-C representative facilitated)

        -- Conferences such as the Georgetown University Healthcare Leadership Institute and the Conference on Infectious Diseases

        -- Knowledge Network Live   Speaker presented events held across the country for materials managers, OR nurses and infection control practitioners on topics such as: Optimal Post-Operative Wound Healing; Fire Safety in the OR; and Surgical Site Verification.

Source: Kimberly-Clark Healthcare