Weekly Rounds: Protecting IPs’ Wellbeing, CDC’s Special Report, and More

Here are 5 highlights from ICT®’s wide-ranging coverage of the infection prevention and control world. Everything from interviews with known opinion leaders, to the news that infection preventionists and other health care professionals can use on their jobs.

How to Protect Infection Preventionists’ Mental and Physical Wellbeing From COVID-19 Burnout

Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, and her colleagues examined how COVID-19 affected infection preventionists’ mental and physical health, and in an exclusive interview, she discusses how facilities and IPs themselves can mitigate burnout.

CDC's Antimicrobial Resistance Special Report Details Dramatic Increases

The report addresses how the US’s decisions on the pandemic generally increased antimicrobial resistance, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for the future.

Do Ultrasound Probes Require High-Level Disinfection?

While a few ultrasound procedures suggest increased instances of patient infections due to low-level disinfection techniques, statistically, results from peer-reviewed studies do not confirm this idea.

Terminal Cleaning, Including UV Sterilization, Effectiveness in Mitigating Pathogen Transmission

For terminal cleans, investigators studied the effect of UV-C disinfection added to chlorine-based disinfectants on the likelihood of MDRO transmission from the source occupant to subsequently exposed occupants.

Inconsistent Ultrasound Transducer Disinfection Procedure Guidelines Confuse Processors

Improper standards complicate cleaning and disinfecting and can represent a wasteful use of resources, specifically when facilities also may lack access to high-level technology.