Spotlight on infection prevention

With an exciting programme on offer, Infection Prevention 2013 promises to offer delegates the latest in infection prevention research, education and expertise, with inspiring speakers and informative sessions. Confirmed speakers include: Past president Martin Kiernan, who will deliver the EM Cotterill Lecture, Professor Barry Cookson who will deliver The Ayliffe Lecture, Chief Nursing Officer for England Jane Cummings, Professor Dale Fisher, Dr Michael Gardham, Dr Hugo Sax MD, Dr Walter Zingg, Dr Phil Hammond, and many more. There are four concurrent specialist study days also on offer. For those working in the field of general practice a GP study day will focus on key issues for GPs including wound care, antimicrobial prescribing and registration for Care Quality Commission (CQC). A dental study day will cover important themes for infection prevention in dental practice including CQC registration and decontamination requirements. For those working in theatre a comprehensive study day will look at patient safety and perioperative practice. Finally, as in previous years, the Infection Prevention Society (IPS) is also running a specialist day covering infection control within the care home environment.

Monday

The inaugural session at Infection Prevention 2013 comes from Professor Dale Fisher, chair of infection control and head of infectious diseases at the National University Hospital, Singapore, who will be talking about opportunities for gaining organisational buy-in to infection prevention. Within this session Prof. Fisher will explain why successful infection prevention and control requires ‘buy-in’ at all levels of an organisation, and will discuss why executive support is crucial, but can be difficult to obtain in financially challenged organisations. This talk will describe how to gain sustainable ‘buy in’ through a mix of methods: draconian, innovative, inclusive, empowering and fun. Dr Michael Gardam, an infectious diseases consultant from Toronto, will be speaking on Using Front Line Ownership to improve patient safety. In this session Michael Gardam will introduce complexity science and how it can be used to improve patient safety. He will introduce ‘Front Line Ownership’, ‘Positive Deviance’, and ‘Liberating Structures’ approaches, and will share his experiences of using these approaches in North America. Internationally renowned speaker Dr Hugo Sax, MD, head of infection control programme from University Hospital of Zurich will talk about Hand hygiene – the ultimate microbiologybehaviour challenge. Within this highly anticipated session Dr Sax will reflect on microbiological risks in the healthcare setting, consider risk perception and its impact on mental models and look to understand what this means for the case of hand hygiene. Martin Kiernan, nurse consultant, infection prevention, at the Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, will complete the first morning of conference by delivering the EM Cottrell Lecture on The life and times of the urinary catheter. Martin Kiernan’s research interests currently centre on surveillance and urinary catheter-associated infections and his other professional interests include wound management, environmental hygiene and the adoption of a common sense, practical approach to the subject. The afternoon of the first day of conference features a wealth of speakers and sessions. Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick, consultant microbiologist HSE/RCPI clinical lead, Health Service Executive, Ireland, will look at Implementing national guidelines at a local level. Within this session Dr Fitzpatrick will identify what the challenges are when implementing national guidance, explain how we can tackle these challenges and will outline how we can measure success. Concurrently, microbiologist Catherine Makison Booth will look at Vomiting Larry – norovirus control. Within this session the objectives are to understand transmission in relation to environmental contamination and discuss new knowledge to support best practice. Dr Walter Zingg from Switzerland will be speaking on ECDC SITE Project. Within this session Dr Zingg will explore effective infection prevention strategies, understand hospital organisation, management and structure to improve quality of care, and explain structure and process indicators to measure success. One of the final sessions on the first day of conference is on Patients’ experience of MRSA screening: a South London perspective from Dr Carol Pellowe a senior lecturer in infection prevention and control from London. Dr Pellowe will analyse the similarities and differences in patients’ experiences of screening, identify where there are deficits in the service, and consider the means of improving the screening service. Concurrently, the day concludes with a stream on Multi Drug Resistant Gram- Negatives, which features a session by Professor Peter Wilson, consultant microbiologist, clinical microbiology & virology, UCLH NHS Foundation Trust on ‘Controlling MDR-Gram-negatives’. This session will describe the emerging threat of multidrug-resistant Gram negatives, outline evidence-based control strategies (with limited evidence) and highlight areas requiring urgent research to develop optimal strategies.