| Sample Topics
Key Components of an Effective Infection Control Program
The goals and responsibilities of an effective IC Program is to improve patient care practices for patients of all ages (Pediatric through Geriatric) and thus improve patient care by managing the functions of infection control activities, performing surveillance, and containing and controlling the acquisition of health-care associated infections.
The purpose of this infection control educational program is to provide insight into the key components of an effective infection control program, which includes critical elements impacting infection control in health-care settings and reporting requirements associated with infection control activities, evaluation, analysis and findings.
Infection Control in the Physician Office
Infection control issues abound in health care settings. Changing guidelines and regulations, staff turnover, and lack of educational resources all contribute to the difficulty that physician offices have in remaining abreast of important infection control practices that affect the population of patients they serve. Annual educational requirements may not always be understood or provided to the physician office staff.
The purpose of this educational program is to touch on infection control guidelines that impact the physician office. Included in this program is current recommendations and education regarding the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard, Tuberculosis and Influenza Vaccination Programs.
Managing the Obese Patient
Understand the risk management/patient safety/patient care considerations in the treatment of an obese patient. Presentation content will include the following eight areas: Communication/sensitivity; environmental concerns; equipment requirements; clinical risks; surgical risks; risk of misdiagnosis; treatment strategies including risk factors; discharge planning and follow up.
Infection Control Activities: Perspectives and Challenges
Organizations in general, and infection control professionals in particular, face many challenges when developing programs to prevent infections within the health care setting. Regulations, standards, and guidelines seem to be built on shifting sand. Interpreting and understanding requirements, external and internal factors, the organization’s demographics, resource availability, and the financial allocations needed to implement necessary changes all contribute to the challenges associated with implementing sound infection control processes.
The challenges affecting infection control functions have many faces and cover numerous topics. Risk assessments, surveillance activities, and reporting requirements are three examples that organizations currently face. Emerging and re-emerging infection control-related problems affect systems and processes. Identifying resolutions to this challenge requires a team effort among the infection control professional, risk managers, and leaders within the organization. The purpose of this educational program is to help identify several risk-related perspectives and challenges associated with infection control activities.
Management of MRSA: Why Bother With It?
The human and financial impact of multiple drug-resistant organisms (MDROs), like Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococus aureus has definitely challenged the nation’s health and the health care industry. In some geographic areas, for example, up to 75% of staphylococcus strains are Methicillin resistant. These strains cause skin and soft tissue infections as well as antibiotic resistant cases of community acquired pneumonia. Bacterial antibiotic resistance is prevalent, potentially serious, and at times, deadly. While there is hope for new antibiotic developments, these are slow in coming. It is said that approximately 50% of the time, antibiotic usage is inappropriate.
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus has taken root, prospered and evolved in virulence. Efforts to prevent and control the spread of MRSA infections is more important than ever. The rapid emergence of community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) and the newest threat of a more potent MRSA superbug, Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) producing MRSA, underscores the importance of establishing effective management programs for MRSA. This program will help organizations understand the importance of managing MRSA in their facility.
MRSA in the Health Care Setting
More than 70 percent of the bacteria that causes infections for two million hospitalized Americans each year are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used to treat them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia (CDC). MRSA infections increase patient morbidity and health care costs. These infections can also kill. Efforts to control the impact of MRSA in the health care setting are numerous and labor intensive. Monitoring for MRSA and trying to put controls against this growing concern are dependent upon a better understanding of the MRSA issues facing health care today. This program will help organizations learn more about the impact of MRSA in the health care setting and how an effective infection control program can minimize its presence.
MRSA: It’s More than JUST A Pesky Microbe
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) evolved from the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which is also known as “Staphylococcus. Aureus” or, more simply, “staph.”. MRSA tops the list of most frequently identified multiple drug resistant pathogens in United States hospitals. Patients may enter a health care setting with no known history of MRSA colonization or infection, yet by the time of discharge, MRSA may have been identified on (or in) their bodies. In the recent past, MRSA has grown and prospered as it continues to evolve and increase in virulence, stepping beyond the walls of the hospital and spreading within the communities that hospitals serve. This program will help organizations as they plan strategies to address MRSA.
Tuberculosis: An Ancient Disease Chased by New Guidelines
In this day of technological advances and miraculous cures for deadly diseases, nearly everyone looks forward to the day when, like smallpox, all communicable diseases are eradicated from the world. We have a long way to go before that happens. Some communicable diseases have a persistence that simply seems to defy reason. Tuberculosis is one such disease. Tuberculosis remains one of the most deadly and common diseases today. Attempts to prevent, control, and cure TB have been arduous.
A resurgence of tuberculosis in the United States from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, disparity in infection control practices, and the presentation of TB strains resistant to multiple drugs, resulted in a publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that were intended to address TB in the health care arena were published in 1994. Unfortunately, those guidelines were not enough to combat the existence of this ancient disease. New guidelines have since been published, resulting in numerous changes. Included in these changes is an expanded scope for preventive efforts to control this disease in the healthcare setting, new risk classifications, and new requirements for TB screening. This program will help organizations develop TB plans that are in keeping with current CDC guidelines.
e-Discovery
As the field of e-discovery explodes and fines for failures to produce electronic evidence soar, health care organizations must remain proactive to mitigate risks related to the storage of patient-related data that they have captured in a myriad of different electronic formats. In light of President Obama’s pre-election promise “to ensure that within five years, all of America’s medical records are computerized”, health care organizations must understand what an e-discovery request entails, and what steps they can take to offset some of the risks they face regarding electronic data discovery. The focus of this educational program is to help health care organizations gain a better understanding of efforts that they can take to mitigate risks and offset the burden that e-discovery imposes
At the end of this session, the participant will be able to explain how the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) regarding e-discovery affect health care organizations, list three examples of electronic data that organizations must not overlook when asked to produce electronic data during the e-discovery process, and identify five crucial preparations that organizations can implement to mitigate risks related to producing electronic data.
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