Tag: infection

Omicron’s Impact

This past week the U.S. reported a record single-day number of daily Covid cases, with more than 1 million new infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as the highly infectious omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country and beyond. The The Omicron variant continues to shatter records in the U.S. We’re learning more about the new variant, and, so far, it seems to spread faster but cause less severe illness than previous variants. There is a lot of speculation about the Omicron surge and its aftermath. To help us answer these questions, and for a look at how 2022 might unfold, we invited Dr. Suzanne Judd to join us for this podcast. Dr. Judd is the Director of the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy and a Professor in the School of Public Health at UAB.

Thank you to our co-sponsor for this podcast, the Alabama Public Health Training Network at the Alabama Department of Public Health a community-based training partner of the Region IV Public Health Training Center.

Omicron, Booster Shots – Staying Healthy in 2022

This past week the U.S. reported a record single-day number of daily Covid cases, with more than 1 million new infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as the highly infectious omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country and beyond. The U.S. also has the highest seven-day average of daily new cases in any country tracked by Johns Hopkins. Even though Omicron has only been around a short period time, it has quickly made its mark. We have invited Dr. Rachael Lee, Associate Professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases and UAB Health Epidemiologist, to talk about all things related to the Omicron variant.

Thank you to our co-sponsor for this podcast, the Alabama Public Health Training Network at the Alabama Department of Public Health a community-based training partner of the Region IV Public Health Training Center.

The Safe Use of Bleach as a Disinfectant in Schools and Healthcare Settings

In this podcast Dr. Ziad Kazzi of Emory University discusses the use of bleach as a disinfectant, potential health hazards of bleach, and how to use bleach safely in schools and healthcare settings.

List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus (COVID-19) – (EPA) https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/about…

FDA (Safely Using Hand Sanitizers) – https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consume…

CDC (Disinfection and Sterilization) – https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/…

American Academy of Pediatrics (Healthy Children) – Cleaners, Sanitizers, and Disinfectants – https://www.healthychildren.org/Engli…

Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU) Safer Disinfectant Use – https://www.pehsu.net/Safer_Disinfect…

American College of Medical Toxicology Safe Disinfectant Use- https://www.acmt.net/Safer-Disinfecta…

Using Disinfectants Safely in Schools and Healthcare Settings

In this podcast Dr. Ziad Kazzi of Emory University introduces listeners to the basics of cleaning including disinfection and sterilization as well as the proper and safe use of disinfectants to prevent infectious disease transmission.

List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus (COVID-19) – (EPA) https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/about…

Establishing an Effective Infection Prevention and Control Program: The Starting Point

There are many components of an effective infection prevention and control program. The IPC risk assessment is the starting point for creating an IPC program. A risk assessment is used to identify important infection control issues in your organization and determine goals to include in your infection prevention and control plan. Per The Joint Commission, an annual infection prevention and control (IPC) risk assessment is required to define programmatic goals and objectives and to provide a framework for identifying gaps in services, safety or data as well as tracking progress in meeting specific goals. Today, we are joined by Janet Chance, Director of Infection Prevention, Accreditation, Quality at Cullman Regional Medical Center, and Meredith Lutz, Chief Quality Officer, Medical West Hospital Authority, to discuss risk assessment and planning for infection prevention and control specialists.