May 10, 2009
In This Issue:
iPhone Hand Hygiene App
STOP! Clean Your Hands Day
IPAC vs. Nuclear Weapons
National Nursing Week
NEW CIC
Journal Briefs
Mark Your Calendar:
May 27th-28th
Geographical Epidemiology Course
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON
Program Information here...
May 31st-June3rd
2010 CHICA-Canada Annual Conference
Golden Opportunities - Soaring to New Heights
Vancouver, BC
Information here...
June 17th
CHICA-HANDIC Annual Education Day
All In the Family
Hamillton, ON
Agenda & Registration
July 11th-15th
APIC Annual Conference
New Orleans, Louisiana
Information here...
WEBBER TELECLASSES:
May 13
Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms in a Beharioural Health Setting
May 20
Epidemiology of Health Care Associated Infections in Limited Resource Regions
May 31
Changes in Reprocessing in Community Settings
(Live from CHICA-Canada Conference)
For more information or to view the complete 2010 schedule, click here.
To register to participate in a Webber Teleclass, call us at: 905-627-3541
OR
Email us: askcsicn@hhsc.ca
RESOURCES ON THE WEB
CHICA-Canada Audit Toolkit
(NEW Audits just added)
All Washed Up
(The Cupcake Video)
Hyrum Grenny (VitalSmarts)
The Truth About Hand Hygiene
SWOICN Inservice On Demand
PIDAC Best Practice Manuals
Questions?
Comments!
Suggestions.
Let us know what you think.
askcsicn@hhsc.ca
P: 905-627-3541
Toll Free: 1 866 681-4916
Fax: 905 627-6474
www.ricn.on.ca
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iPhone Hand Hygiene App
A new app will allow health care providers to audit hand hygiene compliance on their iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Called the iScrub Lite 1.5, the free app was released on the iTunes store on May 5th - to coincide with World Hand Hygiene Day. While the app currently uses the World Health Organization's 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene as it's foundation, perhaps someday we will see a similar app with the 4 Moments on it. To read more about this exciting new technology, click here.
STOP! Clean Your Hands Day 
Grace Villa LTC celebrated STOP! Clean Your Hands Day by promoting hand hygiene using a hand hygiene tree campaign. Staff were encouraged to sign a hand, pledging their commitment to hand hygiene. Staff were also given their own alcohol-based hand rub and a one-page information sheet on hand hygiene. As you can see by the number of hands on the tree - this initiative was a success. Way to go Grace Villa!
IPAC vs. Nuclear Weapons
Eleven countries account for up to 50% of the world's neglected infectious diseases. Interestingly, these same countries are considered the world's nuclear power states. A recent editorial suggests that if the money spent on maintaining a nuclear arsenal were redirected, many of these diseases could be brought under control. Read more...
National Nursing Week
May 10-16 is National Nursing Week - an opportunity to celebrate Canadian nurses for their provision of outstanding patient-centered care and dedication to advancing the health system. This year's theme - Nursing: You Can't Live Without it! - reflects the immense value of Canada's largest group of health care providers. For more information, visit the Canadian Nurses Association website.
NEW CIC
Congratulations to Simona Dalgleish! Simona recently wrote and passed the exam for Certification in Infection Control. Simona is a member of the Hamilton Health Sciences Infection Prevention and Control team. Way to go Simona! We are proud of you.
Journal Briefs
Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on URIs and influenza in crowded, urban households
A recent study published in the journal Public Health Reports studied the impact of three interventions on incidence of upper respiratory infections (URIs), secondary transmission of URIs, knowledge of transmission of URIs, and vaccination rates in households. The interventions studied were: education; education with alcohol-based hand rub, and; education with alcohol-based hand rub and face masks. Since there was no significant difference in rates of infection between the intervention groups, the authors concluded that education alone was the most beneficial intervention. In this population, there was no detectable additional benefit of hand sanitizer or face masks over targeted education on overall rates of URIs, but mask wearing was associated with reduced secondary transmission and should be encouraged during outbreak situations. (Larson, EL, Feng YH, Wong-McLoughlin J, Wang S, Haber M, Morse SS; Public Health Rep; 2010 Mar-Apr; 125(2): 178-91)
Health care workers' views about respirator use and features that should be included in the next generation of respirators
Numerous studies have demonstrated that health care workers are, in general, poorly compliant with respiratory protection guidelines, especially when a N95 respirator is recommended. The American Journal of Infection Control recently published a study that looked at health care workers' views about respirator use and aimed to identify features they prefer to be included in the next generation of respirators. The study indicates that health care workers seek respirators that are more comfortable, interfere less with breathing, diminish heat build-up, are disposable, and permit the user to have facial hair. The study concluded that in order to improve compliance rates, respirators should be modified to meet the specific needs of health care workers. (Baig AS, Knapp C, Eagan AE, Radonovich LJ Jr., AJIC, 2010 Feb, 38(1): 18-25)
Acute hepatitis B outbreaks related to fingerstick blood glucose monitoring in two assisted living facilities
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society looked back at outbreaks of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in two assisted living facilities. In both facilities, transmission of HBV was associated with finger-stick blood glucose monitoring. The authors concluded that nurses probably transmitted HBV infection from resident to resident during finger-stick blood glucose monitoring, causing outbreaks. Awareness of the high risk for HBV transmission during procedures for the care of diabetes mellitus was limited among nursing staff in the facilities studied. Following established infection control measures is critical to prevent spread of this contagious virus. (Counard CA, Perz JF, Linchangco PC, Christiansen D, Ganova-Raeva L, Xia G, Jones S, Vernon MO. J AM Geriatr Soc. 2010 Feb; 58(2):306-11)
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