All Entries in the "CDC/infection control" Category

Questions raised at one hospital about adequate PPE supplies

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask. My colleagues over at OSHA Healthcare Advisor blogged this week about a hospital that was butting heads with some employees regarding personal protective equipment.

The workers don’t believe the hospital has supplied enough PPE, which raises the question of what would happen to the absentee rate at this facility if a pandemic occurred. The hospital disagrees with the employees’ contention. It’s a though provoking blog post.

New Webinar series offers core infection control training

If the abbreviations MRSA, MDRO, and C. diff. are in your vocabulary, you may want to check out HCPro’s upcoming Webcast series on infection control training that starts next week.

Infection Prevention Core Training, Part 1: Meeting the Challenge of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROs) takes place on Wednesday, July 15, at 1 p.m. Eastern time. You can also purchase a bundle package that includes all three of our infection control Webcasts at a savings.

Please pass this on to your infection control folks, too, if you think they’d be interested.

How design might intermingle with infection control

Hi, it’s Scott Wallask logging in today. I’m not sure how many of you are in the midst of new construction or renovations, but I read an interesting post on a blog from architecture firm Astorino about how design features in hospitals can bolster infection control.

For example, the writer notes the usefulness of creating the shortest direct route possible from a hospital helipad to the ED.

Do you take heads or tails with the H1N1 pandemic?

The World Health Organization’s pandemic flu alert is very much like the homeland security threat level: At what point does everyone become desensitized to what the legitimate risk potential might be at any given moment?

I understand from an intellectual standpoint that the poop could really hit the rotating blades come the fall with H1N1, but [more]

CDC report notes some healthcare workers don’t embrace infection control with H1N1 cases

Hi folks, it’s Scott Wallask. Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention published an early examination of healthcare worker infections from the H1N1 swine flu virus in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Even though the report is just a snapshot of two dozen or so infected healthcare workers, it’s clear [more]

H1N1 pandemic will test your supply chains

Hi, it’s Scott Wallask. I read this passage in today’s Boston Globe about medical supplies to battle H1N1 swine flu:

Some hospitals said shelves usually brimming with surgical masks, used to slow the virus’ transmission, turned barren [more]

With a pandemic underway, watch the southern hemisphere for H1N1 clues

Hi folks, it’s Scott Wallask. My goodness, after all these years I never imagined that the official announcement of a flu pandemic from the World Health Organization (WHO) would be met with such little fanfare. I always figured such a proclamation would result in sirens ringing throughout towns and people hunkering down in their homes.

Nope. To be fair, in practical terms [more]

Dark cloud, silver lining for H1N1

Well, the H1N1 swine flu panic seems to be subsiding somewhat, though I have no doubt that many of you are still managing the worried well to one degree or another (please let us know how you’re doing – shoot me a message on the blog, it’s your community and we want to know you’re keeping the faith).

That said, I have the good fortune this week to be spending some time in the Orlando area and I think there may be a bit of silver lining [more]

At this point, it’s an unfair conclusion to say hospitals aren’t prepared for pandemics

Hi, it’s Scott Wallask, and boy do I feel for all of you putting in long hours because of the swine flu outbreak. A safety director at a hospital system in Columbus, OH, summed it up to me in a few words: “We are swamped.”

It sounds like some hospitals are teetering on the brink of being overrun with patients, many of whom ironically aren’t infected with H1N1 but think they might be. There was a hell of an article in the Los Angeles Times this morning discussing some of these plights.

However, I take issue with one of the overriding themes of the article, that being [more]

Hand gel use may bump up with attention on swine flu

Hi folks, it’s Scott Wallask again. When you start thinking of potential swine flu outbreaks, it seems natural to consider your inventories of personal protective equipment, ventilators, and medical supplies. However, one substance I didn’t really think too much about in this regard until I read it in an Associated Press story this morning was alcohol-based hand gel.

Hand gel is probably becoming a hot commodity in hospitals during [more]