Infection Control Matters

In this week's episode, Martin talks to Dr Tina Joshi, Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology in Peninsula Dental School at the University of Plymouth, UK. We discuss her longstanding interest in Clostridioides difficile and her many publications, one of which on the effectiveness of hypochlorite (or lack of it) on spores has been widely covered in the media. We chat about spore attachment to surfaces, the effect of disinfectants and the differences between strains. Some of Tina's papers are listed here. Joshi LT, Phillips DS, Williams CF, Alyousef A, Baillie L. Contribution of spores to the ability of Clostridium difficile to adhere to surfaces. Appl Environ Microbiol 2012;78(21):7671-9. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01862-12 Joshi LT, Welsch A, Hawkins J, Baillie L. The effect of hospital biocide sodium dichloroisocyanurate on the viability and properties of Clostridium difficile spores. Lett Appl Microbiol 2017;65(3):199-205. https://doi.org/10.1111/lam.12768 Dyer C, Hutt LP, Burky R, Joshi LT. Biocide Resistance and Transmission of Clostridium difficile Spores Spiked onto Clinical Surfaces from an American Health Care Facility. Appl Environ Microbiol 2019;85(17). https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01090-19 Waterfield S, Ahmed H, Jones IA, Burky R, Joshi LT. Isolation of Clostridioides difficile PCR Ribotype 027 from single-use hospital gown ties. J Med Microbiol 2022;71(6). https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.001550 Ahmed H, Joshi LT. Clostridioides difficile spores tolerate disinfection with sodium hypochlorite disinfectant and remain viable within surgical scrubs and gown fabrics. Microbiology (Reading) 2023;169(11). https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001418 Malyshev D, Jones IA, McKracken M, Oberg R, Harper GM, Joshi LT, et al. Hypervirulent R20291 Clostridioides difficile spores show disinfection resilience to sodium hypochlorite despite structural changes. BMC Microbiol 2023;23(1):59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-023-02787-z.

In this podcast, we chat with Dr Brian Forde about HAIviz. HAIviz an interactive dashboard for visualising and integrating healthcare-associated genomic epidemiological data. HAIviz displays and links the outbreak timeline, building map, phylogenetic tree, patient bed movements, and transmission network on a single interactive dashboard. You can view and use the tool for free at Permana, B., Harris, P. N., Roberts, L. W., Cuddihy, T., Paterson, D. L., Beatson, S. A., & Forde, B. M. (2024). HAIviz: an interactive dashboard for visualising and integrating healthcare-associated genomic epidemiological data. Microbial Genomics, 10(2), 001200.    

In this episode, Martin Kiernan and Phil Russo talk to Professor Michael Borg of the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery in the Medical School at the University of Malta and Head of Department (Infection Control) at Mater Dei Hospital in Malta. We discuss a recent paper desctibing the stages that brought about a 90% reduction in MRSA bloodstream infections over a ten-year period. The main paper we discuss: Borg MA, Suda D, Tartari E, Farrugia C, Xuereb D, Borg Inguanez M. Preventing healthcare-associated MRSA bacteremia: getting to the root of the problem. Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol 2023;3(1):e248. https://doi.org/10.1017/ash.2023.518 Other papers by Michael include: Borg MA, Suda D, Scicluna E, Brincat A, Zarb P. Universal admission screening: a potential game-changer in hospitals with high prevalence of MRSA. J Hosp Infect 2021;113:77-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2021.03.024 Borg MA, Brincat A. Addressing the controversy of 100% hand hygiene compliance: can alcohol rub consumption data serve as a useful proxy validator? J Hosp Infect 2018;100(2):218-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2018.04.024 Borg MA, Waisfisz B, Frank U. Quantitative assessment of organizational culture within hospitals and its relevance to infection prevention and control strategies. J Hosp Infect 2015;90(1):75-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2014.12.015 Borg MA. Lowbury Lecture 2013. Cultural determinants of infection control behaviour: understanding drivers and implementing effective change. J Hosp Infect 2014;86(3):161-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2013.12.006 De Bono S, Heling G, Borg MA. Organizational culture and its implications for infection prevention and control in healthcare institutions. J Hosp Infect 2014;86(1):1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2013.10.007 Borg MA, Hulscher M, Scicluna EA, Richards J, Azanowsky JM, Xuereb D, et al. Prevention of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections in European hospitals: moving beyond policies. J Hosp Infect 2014;87(4):203-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2014.05.00

In our usual Christmas episode, Brett, Phil and Martin choose our papers and podcasts of 2023. Also this time, Martin set the three of us a challenge: to find an interesting IPC-related paper from the years of our birth (more challenging for some than others..). Martin also reveals the No 1 single in our respective countries on the day of our birth. For Martin, a near miss. For Phil, a very apt song and for Brett... well, his karaoke debut cannot be far off.. Happy holidays everyone!   Martin's 1955 paper: Lowbury, E. J. (1955). "Cross-infection of wounds with antibiotic-resistant organisms." Br Med J 1(4920): 985-990. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.1.4920.985 Phil's 1964 paper: Murray, D. G. (1964). "Wound Infections after Surgery for Fractured Hip. A Follow-up Study." JAMA 190: 505-508. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1964.03070190025005 Brett's 1979 paper: Ehrenkranz, N. J. and S. J. Pfaff (1979). "Growth of hospital infection control programme and the infection control nurse." J R Soc Med 72(12): 888. https://doi.org/10.1177/014107687907201204 Our top papers   Martin's favourite paper: Wolfensberger, A., L. Clack, S. von Felten, M. Faes Hesse, D. Saleschus, M. T. Meier, K. Kusejko, R. Kouyos, L. Held and H. Sax (2023). "Prevention of non-ventilator-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia in Switzerland: a type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial." Lancet Infect Dis 23(7): 836-846. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00812-X Phil's favourite paper: Peel, T. N., S. Astbury, A. C. Cheng, D. L. Paterson, K. L. Buising, T. Spelman, A. Tran-Duy, S. Adie, G. Boyce, C. McDougall, R. Molnar, J. Mulford, P. Rehfisch, M. Solomon, R. Crawford, T. Harris-Brown, J. Roney, J. Wisniewski, R. de Steiger and A. T. Group (2023). "Trial of Vancomycin and Cefazolin as Surgical Prophylaxis in Arthroplasty." N Engl J Med 389(16): 1488-1498. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2301401 Brett's favourite paper: Seidelman, J. L., C. R. Mantyh and D. J. Anderson (2023). "Surgical Site Infection Prevention: A Review." JAMA 329(3): 244-252. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.24075

In this week's episode Phil and Brett mull over their wishlists for what they would want in a perfect IPC world. They turn out to be a pretty undemanding pair.. not. However they both see a future in which their wishes could become true. Unsurprisingly AI and automated surveillance loom large in their thoughts.

In this episode, Brett and Martin discuss a paper they were recently involved with - a systematic review and meta-analysis on prior room occupancy and the risk to the next person. This paper has been recently published in Infection, Disease and Health. Findings provide some evidence to help inform a risk management approach when determining patient room allocation. The risk of pathogen acquisition appears to remain high, supporting the need for continued investment in this area. Here is a link to the paper. In our discussion, we also mentioned a paper about nurses views on the environment and risk: Mitchell, B. G., Russo, P. L., Kiernan, M., & Curryer, C. (2021). Nurses' and midwives’ cleaning knowledge, attitudes and practices: An Australian study. Infection, disease & health, 26(1), 55-62. Link here: Nurses' and midwives’ cleaning knowledge, attitudes and practices: An Australian study

In this week's episode, Martin talks to Dr Jon Otter, epidemiologist, scientst, blogger and Joint Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. We discuss a session at the recent ICPIC conference on the problems posed by plasmids in terms of outbreak detection, increasing antimicrobial resistance and environmental reservoirs. You can read more about Jon's thoughts in his excellent blog post at https://reflectionsipc.com/2023/09/14/cpe-and-plasmid-transfer-in-hospitals-what-can-we-do-a-rapid-reflection-from-icpic-2023/#more-5141   A paper we discuss from Kalisvar Marimuthu and colleagies can be found here https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30637-5 You can listen to Kalis discussing it on a previous podcast in our genomics collection here: https://infectioncontrolmatters.com/topics/methodology/

In this episode, Martin talks to Dr Jinny Moore from the National Health Security Agency in England about detecting pathogens in the ICU environment. They discuss a recent paper where whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on presumptive S. capitis NRCS-A isolates was collected from infants admitted to nationwide NICU and from environmental sampling in two distinct NICUs. The discussion includes details on the approach to sampling (neonates and environment).   Papers discussed: Detection, survival, and persistence of Staphylococcus capitis NRCS-A in neonatal units in England https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(23)00234-7/fulltext   Other papers of interest: Laurent F, Butin M. Staphylococcus capitis and NRCS-A clone: the story of an unrecognized pathogen in neonatal intensive care units. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2019;25:1081-5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30928561 Butin M, Martins-Simoes P, Rasigade JP, Picaud JC, Laurent F. Worldwide Endemicity of a Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus capitis Clone Involved in Neonatal Sepsis. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017;23:538-9.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28221122 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5382751/pdf/16-0833.pdf Butin M, Martins-Simoes P, Pichon B, Leyssene D, Bordes-Couecou S, Meugnier H, et al. Emergence and dissemination of a linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus capitis clone in Europe. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2017;72:1014-20. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27999045 Van Der Zwet WC, Debets-Ossenkopp YJ, Reinders E, Kapi M, Savelkoul PH, Van Elburg RM, et al. Nosocomial spread of a Staphylococcus capitis strain with heteroresistance to vancomycin in a neonatal intensive care unit. J Clin Microbiol. 2002;40:2520-5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12089273 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC120592/pdf/1550.pdf

This week, Martin talks to Dr Jennifer Meddings, Associate Professor at University of Michigan Health and Internist at Ann Arbor about a recently published survey looking at what interventions are commonly used to prevent device-associated infections. We discuss the findings and focus in on prevention of urinary catheter-associated infections and new devices that may have an impact. The paper can be found here: Saint, S., M. T. Greene, S. L. Krein, K. E. Fowler, K. A. Linder, D. Ratz & J. Meddings (2023) What US hospitals are doing to prevent common device-associated infections during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: Results from a national survey in the United States. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 10.1017/ice.2023.65, 1-7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37259703 Other areas and papers that we discuss are here: New tools that have been developed and piloted in a large surgical collaborative in Michigan, in our project called SUCCESS:  Surgical Urinary Catheter Care Enhancement Safety Study, which has focused on improving urinary catheter safety even beyond CAUTI prevention, including focus on reducing unnecessary use for several common elective procedures, standardizing diagnosis and management of urinary retention, and practices to reduce traumatic injury from catheters and improve success on first catheterization attempt:   https://msqc.org/success/. Kuriyama, A., K. E. Fowler, J. Meddings, H. Irie, D. Kawakami, H. Iwasaki, M. Sakuraya, K. Katayama, Y. Tokuda & S. Saint (2019) Reducing unnecessary urethral catheter use in Japanese intensive care units: A multicenter interventional study. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 40, 1272-1274. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31558172 Patel, P. K., A. Gupta, V. M. Vaughn, J. D. Mann, J. M. Ameling & J. Meddings (2018) Review of Strategies to Reduce Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) and Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) in Adult ICUs. J Hosp Med, 13, 105-116. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29154382 Patel, P. K., A. Gupta, V. M. Vaughn, J. D. Mann, J. M. Ameling & J. Meddings (2018) Review of Strategies to Reduce Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) and Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) in Adult ICUs. J Hosp Med, 13, 105-116. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29154382 Meddings, J., S. Saint, S. L. Krein, E. Gaies, H. Reichert, A. Hickner, S. McNamara, J. D. Mann & L. Mody (2017) Systematic Review of Interventions to Reduce Urinary Tract Infection in Nursing Home Residents. J Hosp Med, 12, 356-368. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28459908

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Giorgia Gon, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine about a briefing paper that  identifies research priorities for healthcare cleaning in resource-limited settings. We discuss the process of determining the priorities, the groups involved and the final areas that should be targeted with research funding, including cost-effectiveness, the use of biocides or detergents and minimum requirements. You can find a copy of the CLEAN Briefing here Other papers of interest: 1. Cross S, Gon G, Morrison E, Afsana K, Ali SM, Manjang T, et al. An invisible workforce: the neglected role of cleaners in patient safety on maternity units. Glob Health Action. 2019;12:1480085. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31154993 2. Gon G, Kabanywanyi AM, Blinkhoff P, Cousens S, Dancer SJ, Graham WJ, et al. The Clean pilot study: evaluation of an environmental hygiene intervention bundle in three Tanzanian hospitals. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2021;10:8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33413647 3. Storr J, Kilpatrick C, Lee K. Time for a renewed focus on the role of cleaners in achieving safe health care in low- and middle-income countries. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2021;10:59. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33762000

In this episode, Martin talks to Giovanni-Battista Fucini about a recent paper from Germany that examined infection rates in critical care in which it was reported that hospitals without sinks in patient rooms have lower infection rates. Newer hospitals in Germany tend not to have sinks in the patient rooms in ICU. The paper we discuss is here: Giovanni-Battista, F., C. Geffers, F. Schwab, M. Behnke, W. Sunder, J. Moellmann & P. Gastmeier (2023) Sinks in patient rooms in the ICU are associated with higher rates of hospital-acquired infections. A retrospective analysis of 552 ICUs. J Hosp Infect, 10.1016/j.jhin.2023.05.018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2023.05.018 Other papers of interest are: Kotay, S. M., H. I. Parikh, K. Barry, H. S. Gweon, W. Guilford, J. Carroll & A. J. Mathers (2020) Nutrients influence the dynamics of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase producing enterobacterales in transplanted hospital sinks. Water Res, 176, 115707. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32224328 Constantinides, B., K. K. Chau, T. P. Quan, G. Rodger, M. I. Andersson, K. Jeffery, S. Lipworth, H. S. Gweon, A. Peniket, G. Pike, J. Millo, M. Byukusenge, M. Holdaway, C. Gibbons, A. J. Mathers, D. W. Crook, T. E. A. Peto, A. S. Walker & N. Stoesser (2020) Genomic surveillance of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. in hospital sink drains and patients. Microb Genom, 6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32553019 Mathers, A. J., K. Vegesana, I. German Mesner, K. E. Barry, A. Pannone, J. Baumann, D. W. Crook, N. Stoesser, S. Kotay, J. Carroll & C. D. Sifri (2018) Intensive Care Unit Wastewater Interventions to Prevent Transmission of Multispecies Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase-Producing Organisms. Clin Infect Dis, 67, 171-178. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29409044 Grabowski, M., J. M. Lobo, B. Gunnell, K. Enfield, R. Carpenter, L. Barnes & A. J. Mathers (2018) Characterizations of handwashing sink activities in a single hospital medical intensive care unit. J Hosp Infect, 100, e115-e122. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29738784 Kotay, S., W. Chai, W. Guilford, K. Barry & A. J. Mathers (2017) Spread from the Sink to the Patient: In Situ Study Using Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)-Expressing Escherichia coli To Model Bacterial Dispersion from Hand-Washing Sink-Trap Reservoirs. Appl Environ Microbiol, 83. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28235877 Garvey, M. I., N. Williams, A. Gardiner, C. Ruston, M. A. C. Wilkinson, M. Kiernan, J. T. Walker & E. Holden (2023) The sink splash zone. J Hosp Infect, 135, 154-156. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36870392

We discuss One Health in this episode with Professor Tom Riley, using C.difficile as the example of explaining why the concept of One Health is so important.   Tom is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, the Australian Society for Microbiology, the American Academy of Microbiology, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, and has published over 400 book chapters and refereed publications.

This week, Martin talks to Jincy Jerry, Assistant Director of Nursing in Infection Prevention and Control at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. Jincy is a pioneer in the use of Robotic Process Automation in clinical settings within Irish Healthcare. Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that emulate humans actions interacting with digital systems and software. In 2021, the project received Prix Hubert Tuor Innovation Academy Award at the 6th International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC), in Geneva. We discuss the potential and actual benefits, including the freeing up of hours of IP time as well as the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the infection prevention world.   A review paper on this topic can be found here: Piaggio, D., M. Zarro, S. Pagliara, M. Andellini, A. Almuhini, A. Maccaro & L. Pecchia (2023) The use of smart environments and robots for infection prevention control: A systematic literature review. Am J Infect Control, 10.1016/j.ajic.2023.03.005. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36924997

In this podcast, we talk about the CLEEN and I-CLEEN studies. These are a RCT and quasi-experimental genomics study aiming to determine the effect of additional cleaning of shared medical equipment of the frequency of healthcare associated infections.  We also make phone call mid podcast... A shout out to all the team involved in this project, including being wonderfully coordinated by Dr Kate Browne and with great support from Georgia Matterson.  Full details on the website below. Link to study website: https://cleenstudy.com/ Link to study protocol: https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-023-07144-z This project is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership Investigator grant (Prof Brett Mitchell, (GNT2008392)).

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Sinèad Horgan, Director of Nursing South/South West Hospital Group, and School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork in Ireland. We discuss a journey towards surgical site sueveillance and quality improvement and her recent papers on this topic. We discuss knowledge, attitudes, gaining engagement, buy-in and the importance of patient involvement in SSI prevention. Papers discussed include: Horgan S, et al. Healthcare professionals' knowledge and attitudes of surgical site infection and surveillance: A narrative systematic review. Nurse Educ Pract. 2023;69:103637.  HTTPS://doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103637 Horgan S, et al. Impact of a quality improvement intervention on the incidence of surgical site infection in patients undergoing colorectal surgery: Pre-test-post-test design. J Clin Nurs. 2023.  HTTPS://doi:10.1111/jocn.16690 Troughton R, et al. Understanding determinants of infection control practices in surgery: the role of shared ownership and team hierarchy. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2019;8:116.  https://doi:10.1186/s13756-019-0565-8

In this episode, we discuss a paper in the Lancet Infectious Disease about preventing non-ventilator associate pneumonia including the determinants of implementation success. Brett and Martin chat with Dr Aline Wolfensberger and Professor Hugo Sax, authors of this paper about this important work. Link to paper: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00812-X/fulltext   Dr Aline Wolfensberger is a medical doctor, certified in Internal Medicine and in Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology. She works at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology of the University Hospital Zurich with Professor Hugo Sax. Prof Hugo Sax is a Swiss ID physician who worked for the last 20 years as a leader in infection prevention and control.    

Brett Mitchell talks to Dr Sarah Browning and Professor Josh Davis about a recent paper in Infection, Disease and Health - "Have gloves and gowns had their day?" The evidence for gloves and gowns is discussed, as well as results from a recent survey into their use in Australia and New Zealand. Sarah is an infectious disease physician and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at the Hunter New England (HNE) Health District in NSW, Australia. Josh is infectious disease physician and a clinical trialist, also based at HNE and the Hunter Medical Research Institute.   A link to the article: https://www.idhjournal.com.au/article/S2468-0451(23)00030-5/fulltext Reference: Browning, S., Davis, J. S., & Mitchell, B. G. (2023). Have gloves and gowns had their day? An Australian and New Zealand practice and attitudes survey about contact precautions for MRSA and VRE colonisation. Infection, Disease & Health. DOI: 10.1016/j.idh.2023.03.006

In this episode Phil talks to A/Prof Noleen Bennett* about the state of surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship and what her research has discovered in this area. Noleen also tells about an exciting project she is leading called NISPAC, a streamlined infection and antimicrobial use surveillance system for Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities. *Associate Professor Noleen Bennett. Infection Control Consultant, Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance Coordinating Centre and the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship.   Further information: NISPAC VICNISS  An evaluation of influenza, pneumococcal and herpes zoster vaccination coverage in Australian aged care residents, 2018 to 2022 Infection prevention quality indicators in aged care: ready for a national approach Skin and soft tissue infections and current antimicrobial prescribing practices in Australian aged care residents

In this second discussion of an abstract presented at the SHEA Spring meeting 2023 in Seattle, Martin talks to MPH candidate Olivia Hess about her work on staff opinions of automated hand hygiene monitoring. Olivia works as a member of Dr Gonzalo Bearman's group at VCU Health (Virginia Commonwealth University) in Richmond, Virginia. We discuss staff attitudes to the technology and it's utility, which are almost universally negative. Some recent papers on automated hand hygiene monitoring: M. A. Tremblay, et al. 2022 Investigation of Individual Nurses' Relative Hand Hygiene Performance Using an Anonymous Automated Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring System and a Nursing Assignment Schedule Am J Infect Control https://10.1016/j.ajic.2022.05.026 V. Mouajou, et al. 2022 Hand hygiene compliance in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections: a systematic review J Hosp Infect 119 33-48 https://10.1016/j.jhin.2021.09.016 K. J. McKay, et al. 2022 Healthcare workers' experiences of video-based monitoring of hand hygiene behaviours: a qualitative study Am J Infect Control https://10.1016/j.ajic.2022.03.010 D. J. Durant, et al. 2020 Adoption of electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems in New York state hospitals and the associated impact on hospital-acquired C. difficile infection rates Am J Infect Control 48 7 733-739 https://10.1016/j.ajic.2020.04.005 And thanks to Marco Bo Hansen for reminding us of this recent paper A. R. Knudsen, et al. 2023 Individual hand hygiene improvements and effects on healthcare-associated infections: A long-term follow-up study using an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system J Hosp Infect In Press https://10.1016/j.jhin.2023.02.017

In this episode recorded at the 2023 SHEA Spring Meeting in Seattle, Martin talks to abstract presenter Dr Lamia Alam about the work of a Johns' Hopkins group on a systematic review of human factors relating to cleaning in the Operating Room. We discuss the abstract presented at the meeting and also previous work in human factors and environmental service workers from this group that are particular favourites of Martin's (detailed below). Relevant papers: 1. A. Xie, et al. 2018 Improving Daily Patient Room Cleaning: An Observational Study Using a Human Factors and Systems Engineering Approach IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors 6 3-4 178-191 https://10.1080/24725838.2018.1487348 2. C. Rock, et al. 2016 Using a Human Factors Engineering Approach to Improve Patient Room Cleaning and Disinfection Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 37 12 1502-1506 https://10.1017/ice.2016.219