Following a successful conference in London, Infection Prevention 2014 is now coming to Glasgow. The conference will be held at the SECC from the 29 September to the 1 October 2014.
Organised by the Infection Prevention Society, Infection Prevention 2014 will offer delegates the latest in infection prevention research, education and expertise, with inspiring speakers and informative sessions. This year’s programme features specialist streams on invasive devices, carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE), community care, surgical/perioperative practice, dentistry and research. There will also be sessions on antimicrobial resistance, leadership, zero tolerance, environmental hygiene, food hygiene and there will be opportunities to ‘meet the experts’.
Confirmed speakers at the event include: Dr Evonne Curran, Dr Stephanie Dancer, Professor Jason Leitch, Dr Michael Borg, Andrew Jackson, Professor David Weber, Peter Hoffman, Professor Shaheen Mehtar, Dr Nick Phin, Dr John Coia, Julie Storr and many more.
Monday
The inaugural session at Infection Prevention 2014 is from IPS Patron Professor Didier Pittet, director of the Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, University of Geneva Hospitals, Switzerland who will be presenting a session entitled Generation We – inspiring the future of infection prevention. Within this session Prof Pittet will conduct a think tank exercise to outline how we can stimulate the current ‘Generation We’ that are or will be involved in healthcare delivery to be engaged in infection prevention and control.
This session will also pose a series of questions that will ultimately outline how we need to influence leaders of the future to save millions of lives through their actions in healthcare. Prof Pittet hopes to stimulate delegates to inspire action, to ensure the best evidence available is translated into patient safety at the bedside.
Also speaking is Professor Jason Leitch, clinical director, The Quality Unit, Scottish Government, Institute for Healthcare Improvement Fellow, who will present a session entitled Can we get to zero? – how to make care safer.
Dr Michael Borg, an infection control consultant from Mater Dei Hospital in Malta, will be speaking on The current threat of antimicrobial resistance: has the post antibiotic era arrived? In this session Dr Borg will review the current epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance with a special focus on Europe, indicate important mechanisms of resistance, especially within Gram negative bacteria and outline the clinical significance of antimicrobial resistance and means of control.
Dr Evonne Curran, recent IPS research and development group lead, will deliver the EM Cotrell Lecture. In her session: The times they are a changing. Dr Curran will explore how, over the last 25 years, the infection prevention and control community has contributed enormously to patient safety by preventing, shortening and learning from outbreaks.
The afternoon of the first day of conference features a wealth of speakers who will be covering four specialist streams. Deverick Anderson, associate professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, will look at The Benefits of Universal Gloves and Gowns (BUGG). Within this session Deverick Anderson will explore why current discussion focuses on the relative value of universal vs targeted interventions and how the BUGG study evaluated the impact of universal glove and gown use on the ICU. He will also discuss the outcomes and implications of the BUGG study.
In addition, Dr John Coia, consultant clinical microbiologist and chair of The Healthcare Infection Society Working Group on Respiratory and Facial, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Glasgow Royal Infirmary will present a session entitled Guidance on respiratory and facial protection. Dr Coia will explain when protection is required, when it should be used and how to risk assess when it is needed.
Concurrently, IV nurse consultant Andrew Jackson will be delivering a session as part of the Invasive Devices Stream entitled Past present and future state of central line bundles. In this session, Andrew Jackson will discuss the influence of a central line bundle in bringing together scientifically grounded concepts that are both necessary and sufficient to improve the outcome.
The Invasive Devices Stream will continue with a session on infection implications of chest drains, a further session on urinary catheters from Jacqui Prieto, senior clinical research fellow/nurse specialist in infection prevention and Catherine Murphy, postgraduate research student, University of Southampton. They will look to examine the reasons for overuse of urinary catheters in acute medicine and will explore the patient’s experience of voiding difficulty and urinary catheterisation when undergoing elective knee or hip replacement surgery.
The Introduction to Infection Prevention Stream will also be held on Monday afternoon. This is a new style of workshop for practitioners who are new to the specialty. This stream will feature sessions which provide an overall introduction to the essentials of infection prevention and control with a series of practical session led by Dr Jon Otter, research fellow from King’s College London & Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. This will include a session from Dr Jon Otter on How to assess scientific posters: a practical guide. This session will look at the process of deciding which posters to visit, tips for quickly reviewing posters, and will offer some ideas for making the most of the new information.
Monday afternoon will also feature a session from Jennie Wilson, reader, healthcare epidemiology, from the University of West London with a session entitled The misuse of clinical gloves: how and why healthcare workers use gloves. During this session Jennie Wilson will explain the background to the use of gloves in healthcare, explore when gloves are indicated for the prevention of infection and will look at the current glove use practice and risks associated with misuse.
Tuesday
Tuesday features several specialist streams on Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), Research Practicalities and Community Care. In addition separate events on Surgical/ Perioperative Practice and Dental will be featured in the programme and can both be accessed as standalone events which can be booked directly on the conference website.
The Surgical and Perioperative Practice Day features a range of sessions from experts within the field who will take a comprehensive look at various aspects of surgical care. The stream will open with Professor David Leaper who will give an Overview of surgical site infections (SSI). Within this session Prof Leaper will explore how an accurate definition of surgical site infection (SSI) is important for research and interdisciplinary benchmarking.
This session will be followed by Jennie Wilson and Rose Gallagher who will discuss a collaborative project entitled One Together, which aims to reduce risk of SSI by bringing together a variety of specialists. Professor Judith Tanner will take a look at the evidence base for the prevention of SSIs. In addition, Julian Jarman and Melissa Rochon will discuss how surveillance has driven changes in practice to reduce SSI with a session entitled Surveillance in action. Peter Hoffman, consultant clinical scientist from Public Health England, will discuss the requirements of theatre ventilation and finally, Christina Bradley will discuss the current issues with safe decontamination.
decontamination. The Dental Day features a session from Peter Hoffman, consultant clinical scientist for Public Health England with a session entitled Contamination risks and how to reduce them. Peter Hoffman will explore how dental settings and instruments are contaminated; identify the significance of contamination from various sources in a dental setting and the significance of decontamination of dental instruments and the environment. Other sessions include: Local approach to delivering infection prevention in Scotland by Christine Young, Translating new standards into practical design by Clive C Schmulian, Legionella and water lines by Diane Lindsay and Infection prevention in relation to the dental laboratory by Dr Rebecca Taylor.
Both the Surgical/Perioperative Practice Day and Dental Day can be booked directly by visiting: www.ips.uk.net/education-events/ annual-conference.
Other specialist streams include the Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) stream which begins with a session from Dr Tara Palmore, director, Infectious Diseases Training Programme with a session entitled Controlling CRE at NIH. In this session Dr Palmore will describe how CRE was controlled at the NIH Clinical Centre by describing the outbreak and key learning points for other healthcare facilities. This is followed by a session entitled Controlling CRE – the Manchester experience by Dr Andrew Dodgson from Public Health England. In this session Dr Dodgson will highlight the emerging threat of CRE and how to tackle the problem. Finally, this stream will close with a session entitled Controlling CRE in a local hospital.
Research Practicalities features a variety of sessions beginning with Top tips for conducting research by Prof Tanner and Professor Heather Loveday. The objectives of this session are to describe the different approaches to research by explaining whether to undertake qualitative or quantitative research. They will also explain how to turn a research idea into a study and how to disseminate your research findings. This will be followed by a session from Dr Neil Wigglesworth; nurse consultant from Public Health Wales entitled Getting evidence into print. During this session, Dr Wigglesworth will describe how research articles are presented in journals, what makes a ‘good article’ and will explain the process involved in getting a submitted article into print.
The Community Care Stream will begin with a session from Caroline McGeary entitled Infection prevention in schools and nurseries. This session Caroline will describe the infection prevention challenges in schools and nurseries and explain what guides are available. Another session in this stream comes from Alan Beswick entitled Infection prevention in tattooing and body piercing. He will highlight the infection risk associated with tattooing and body piercing and what to look for when auditing these practices.
Wednesday
The third day of conference will open with a presentation on Food Hygiene from Hugh Pennington, Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology. Prof Pennington will explore problems relating to food hygiene and how this will influence future practice.
The morning also features a session entitled The impact of HIV on IPC in Africa from Professor Shaheen Mehtar, chair Infection Control Africa Network (ICAN). The objectives of this session are to explore the burden of HIV disease, examine the impact on healthcare delivery and infection prevention and control including decontamination and sterilisation.
Dr Jimmy Walker from Public Health England Biosafety Unit is delivering a session entitled Guidance on control of Pseudomonas. Within this session Dr Walker will look to understand the water system and the implications of P. aeruginosa in augmented care by discussing the application of control methods and explain the role of the Water Safety Group and how they can provide support.
Author of The Big Necessity , Rose George, will speak on Examining the unmentionables which will be followed by the penultimate session from IPS Patron Tricia Hart with a session entitled Realising the potential that resides in all of us.
Conference will be brought to a close by incoming IPS president Heather Loveday.
These are just some of the highlights from Infection Prevention 2014 and there are numerous other sessions to keep delegates interested. For the full programme visit www.ips.uk.net and click on the conference icon on the home page.
Available to view:highlights from 2013
If you haven’t been to the Infection Prevention Society Annual Conference before, to provide a taster of this important educational event, each month a speaker presentation and slides from the 2013 conference is uploaded to the IPS website, a link to which can be found on the IPS conference news website page: . Presentations which havebeen uploaded so far include the following 2013 sessions:
- Dr Michael Gardam – Using Front Line Ownership to improve patient safety.
- Professor Hugo Sax – Hand hygiene – the ultimate microbiology-behaviour challenge.
- Dr Robert Garcia – Healthcare acquired pneumonia and the science of oral care.
Oral Presentaions and Posters
Another highlight of the annual IPS Conference is the oral presentations and posters. Infection Prevention 2013 featured over 106 posters and 12 oral presentations which covered a huge range of subjects and provided an invaluable resource during conference. This year promises to offer a similar array of quality information.
The Exhibition
The exhibition at Infection Prevention 2014 will feature products and services from over 100 companies working within infection prevention and control. Some of these companies will be long-term supporters of IPS, but the exhibition will also feature some new faces, new products and recent innovations. The exhibition offers the ideal opportunity to discuss infection prevention and control solutions with a wide variety of specialist companies.
Social Events
The educational programme at Infection Prevention 2014 is enhanced by the social events, which allow valuable time for building relationships with fellow infection prevention and control colleagues. A fun night will be held on Monday 29 September at the Atra, a Mediterranean-themed restaurant, bar and club which is located in the Glasgow City Centre. The IPS Annual Gala Dinner will be held on the Tuesday evening at the Arches located in Glasgow City Centre. Attendees will be treated to a wine reception followed by a three course meal. The evening will also include entertainment from a live band. Tickets can be purchased on the conference page of the IPS website.
CPD
Conference also provides an opportunity for continual professional development (CPD) for all healthcare professionals. All delegates will receive a certificate of attendance after the event which will record the sessions that they have attended. In addition the programme has been awarded 14 CPD credits for medical staff from the Royal College of Pathologists.
All sessions will be mapped against the IPS competences, this information will also be on the certificates of attendance and full information will be available online. The mapped chart will help delegates decide which sessions they should attend as part of their professional development.
Twitter:@IPS_Infection
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