Slide Show: A Collaborative Approach to Hand Hygiene

An ICU study found that alcohol-based hand rub applied after patient care reduced glove bioburden, while staff raised feasibility concerns. Researchers stress that the practice does not replace glove changes or hand hygiene.

For International Infection Prevention Week, Infection Control Today explores how prevention connects hospital departments with everyday community life and why infection preventionists (IPs), sterile processing department (SPD), professionals, and environmental services (EVS) teams deserve lasting support.

In honor of Global Handwashing Day, Jamar Shaw, MD, MPH, CIC, explains how applying the WHO 5 Moments to actual care sequences can reduce transmission risks in ambulatory settings.

This week's coverage in Infection Control Today centered on a common thread: the systems, partnerships, and data that let infection prevention teams catch problems before patients are harmed.

What might infection prevention rounds miss when visible conditions dominate the conversation? Tommy Davis, PhD, CMIP, a member of ICT's executive advisory board, makes the case for structured observations of clinical workflows, shared accountability, and greater attention to environmental services staff’s insights.

3 of 4: How technology, artificial intelligence, automation, and data are reshaping sterile processing leadership

Part 2 of 4: Recruitment may bring people into sterile processing. Development is what determines whether they stay.

At IDWeek 2026, Rachel Sidebottom discusses research exploring phage-antibiotic combinations, the potential for predictive modeling, and an investigation identifying an ST5 strain of nontoxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae circulating in Albuquerque.