Can you believe that next week
we’ll be heading into June? I truly have
no clue where the first 5 months of this year have gone. For those of us in the North American
Infection Prevention community, June signifies the highlight of our year – it’s
conference time! I’m fortunate enough to
get the opportunity to attend both the APIC and IPAC-Canada
conferences. I will say though, that I’m
not looking forward to my red eye back to Toronto from Portland and only being
at home for less than 28 hrs before I head off to Charlottetown for the
IPAC-Canada conference. Regardless of
how tired I will be, the line-up of speakers and topics looks amazing - and I’m
not just saying that because I was lucky enough to be chosen to present at the
APIC conference!
we’ll be heading into June? I truly have
no clue where the first 5 months of this year have gone. For those of us in the North American
Infection Prevention community, June signifies the highlight of our year – it’s
conference time! I’m fortunate enough to
get the opportunity to attend both the APIC and IPAC-Canada
conferences. I will say though, that I’m
not looking forward to my red eye back to Toronto from Portland and only being
at home for less than 28 hrs before I head off to Charlottetown for the
IPAC-Canada conference. Regardless of
how tired I will be, the line-up of speakers and topics looks amazing - and I’m
not just saying that because I was lucky enough to be chosen to present at the
APIC conference!
Education and networking is vitally
important to our ability to keep up with the ever changing world of infection
prevention. Whether we’re concerned with
learning more about the newest pathogens of concern such as Candida auris, looking for a faster and safer way to disinfect the surfaces in our
environments, finding an automated way to monitor hand hygiene or figure out
how to reprocess that new medical device that just showed up in your OR, there
is always something to learn and always that pearl of wisdom or nugget of
knowledge that you can take back to your team.
A good conference should also have some controversies. I’m not talking about fisticuffs or hair
pulling, but a good old fashion debate and difference of opinions. Some of my favorite sessions I have attended
over the years are ‘debates’ where the session pits two people against each
other taking opposing sides of the argument.
The first such session I saw was at the IFIC conference in Malta back in
2003. I’m not going to name the speakers
but there was “Pro-Disinfection” and an “Anti-Disinfection” speaker, and WOW
being only 6 months into my career in the world of infection prevention I was
both star struck and mind boggled with the polar differences in opinion.
important to our ability to keep up with the ever changing world of infection
prevention. Whether we’re concerned with
learning more about the newest pathogens of concern such as Candida auris, looking for a faster and safer way to disinfect the surfaces in our
environments, finding an automated way to monitor hand hygiene or figure out
how to reprocess that new medical device that just showed up in your OR, there
is always something to learn and always that pearl of wisdom or nugget of
knowledge that you can take back to your team.
A good conference should also have some controversies. I’m not talking about fisticuffs or hair
pulling, but a good old fashion debate and difference of opinions. Some of my favorite sessions I have attended
over the years are ‘debates’ where the session pits two people against each
other taking opposing sides of the argument.
The first such session I saw was at the IFIC conference in Malta back in
2003. I’m not going to name the speakers
but there was “Pro-Disinfection” and an “Anti-Disinfection” speaker, and WOW
being only 6 months into my career in the world of infection prevention I was
both star struck and mind boggled with the polar differences in opinion.
I’m not sure now almost 14 years later, that
the same debate could be had, as a lot has transpired with respect to our
understanding of the importance and impact that environmental hygiene has on
our infection prevention programs. One
thing that I can still say exists even after all of these years is the
seemingly endless myths and misconceptions about disinfectants. Looking back through my files, I found an
article I wrote back in 2008 – Myths and Facts about Infection Prevention that I would like to say we’ve been able to bust the beliefs of
many about who are responsible for infection prevention and how we can all
benefit from understanding how pathogens are transmitted. I’m sad to say that some of the myths about
disinfectants still hold true. In fact
my “protégé” wrote a blog – The Infection
Prevention Army Dispels Disinfection Myths - this
week on myths we still routinely hear about and try to educate against.
the same debate could be had, as a lot has transpired with respect to our
understanding of the importance and impact that environmental hygiene has on
our infection prevention programs. One
thing that I can still say exists even after all of these years is the
seemingly endless myths and misconceptions about disinfectants. Looking back through my files, I found an
article I wrote back in 2008 – Myths and Facts about Infection Prevention that I would like to say we’ve been able to bust the beliefs of
many about who are responsible for infection prevention and how we can all
benefit from understanding how pathogens are transmitted. I’m sad to say that some of the myths about
disinfectants still hold true. In fact
my “protégé” wrote a blog – The Infection
Prevention Army Dispels Disinfection Myths - this
week on myths we still routinely hear about and try to educate against.
If you check out the Insights Blog
you might also be wondering who this Microbe Militia is! You’ll have to stay tuned for the next 3
weeks as we slowly unveil our newest education campaign and if you’re at APIC
or IPAC-Canada, you’ll get to see it firsthand!
you might also be wondering who this Microbe Militia is! You’ll have to stay tuned for the next 3
weeks as we slowly unveil our newest education campaign and if you’re at APIC
or IPAC-Canada, you’ll get to see it firsthand!
Bugging Off!
Nicole
