Standard Precautions and Beyond: Conversations in Infection Prevention and Control – Details, episodes & analysis

Join the Alabama Regional Center for Infection Prevention and Control as we discuss the basics of norovirus with Dr. Marilyn Bulloch from Auburn University’s Harrison College of Pharmacy. We will cover symptoms, if it's contagious, where people usually encounter this virus, and more. 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.

As Alabama heats up into summer the number of individuals outside and the number of bugs outside are increasing, including ticks, insects that can pose a direct to human health. Join the ARC IPC and Dr. Jonathan Rayner for a discussion around tick-borne diseases in Alabama and how you can prevent being affected by ticks this summer.

For many months, parents have been told COVID vaccines for their children under 5 were on the way. But shifting timelines, delays and misinformation have left many parents frustrated and confused. In addition, as COVID restrictions are relaxed, many parents of young children are desperate to know when they can expect a vaccine to be authorized for their young children. To bring some clarity to this conversation, we have invited Dr. Candice Dye, an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Academic General Pediatrician at Children’s of Alabama, to join us to talk about the latest updates on the COVID vaccine approval for children under 5. Thank you to our co-sponsor for this podcast, the Alabama Public Health Training Network (https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/alphtn/) at the Alabama Department of Public Health (https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/index.html) a community-based training partner of the Region IV Public Health Training Center (https://r4phtc.org).

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.

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.

For More Information:

List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus (COVID-19) – (EPA)
https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/about-list-n-disinfectants-coronavirus-covid-19-0

FDA (Safely Using Hand Sanitizers)
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/safely-using-hand-sanitizer

CDC (Disinfection and Sterilization)
https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/disinfection/index.html

American Academy of Pediatrics (Healthy Children) – Cleaners, Sanitizers, and Disinfectants
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/prevention/Pages/Cleaners-Sanitizers-Disinfectants.aspx

Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU) Safer Disinfectant Use
https://www.pehsu.net/Safer_Disinfectants.html

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

For More Information:

List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus (COVID-19) – (EPA)
https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/about-list-n-disinfectants-coronavirus-covid-19-0

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.

Dr. David Kimberlin, Professor and Co-Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, joined the podcast to discuss COVID-19 in pediatric patients, how to keep children safe from the Delta variant and to answer questions about COVID-19 vaccines for children. 

Thank you to our co-sponsor for this podcast, the Alabama Public Health Training Network (https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/ALPHTN/) at the Alabama Department of Public Health https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/index.html), a community-based training partner of the Region IV Public Health Training Center (https://r4phtc.org).

Dr. Elliot Lefkowitz joins us for a podcast to talk about Mpox, the Monkey Pox Virus, and how genetic mutations affects not only the effectiveness of viruses but how they are named and how scientists reach these conclusions. 

This podcast is presented by the Alabama Regional Center for Infection Prevention and Control Training and Technical Assistance. 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.