Relevant summaries of publications: Infection control in intensive care units

As part of the EUCIC, we are now providing slides summarizing recently published articles on various topics in the field of infection control.

This month, a selection of articles related to infection control in intensive care units highlights important findings on:

  • The epidemiology of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii
  • Intervention to prevent catheter-associated infections
  • Understanding the physiopathology of ventilator associated pneumonia and improvement of practices

 

Enjoy the reading!!

EUCIC launches a European training programme in Infection Prevention and Control in healthcare settings.

The two-year training programme starts in February 2018 with a basic and compulsory module in Groningen. Advanced modules follow in June and October of 2018, and in January, March, May and September of 2019. In addition, trainees will have the opportunity to attend local modules in different countries comprising the topics of the curriculum, follow e-learning modules, and apply for observerships.

All medical doctors and pharmacists, nurses or other healthcare professionals with a MSc or PhD are eligible. After successful completion of the programme (acquiring ~60 ECTS), trainees will receive the EUCIC Certificate in Infection Prevention and Control.

Registration for the basic module will open next week

Summary of paper by Wang et al in PNAS

Gabriel Brigand nicely summarized the paper entitled "Network of microbial and antibiotic interactions drive colonization and infection with multidrug-resistant organisms" published by Wang et al.

To access the summary, please have a look at the following file

For the full publication, please refer to PNAS 2017;114 (39):10467-10472.

Publication about EUCIC's training programme in Dutch Journal of Medical Microbiology


Alex Friedrich and Nico Mutters published an article discussing EUCIC's training programme.

 

The full article is in Dutch but an abstract is available in English.

 

Reference: Infectiepreventieopleiding: metacompetentie en Europese competentie. Mutters, NT, Friedrich, AW. Ned Tijdschr Med Microbiol 2017;25:nr3

Announcement of the winners of the STOP negative survey!

We promised to give away three iPAD minis to those respondents who completely filled out the EUCIC STOP negative survey.

We are pleased to let you know that the winners are:

1. Ann Filippa Madsen (Denmark)

2. Gintaras Makstutis (Lithuania)

3. Lurdes Santos (Portugal)

 

Congratulations to the three winners!

We hope you enjoy your gift!

An overview of themes on Infection Control at ECCMID 2017 by Gabriel Brigand

Gabriel Brigand has made available a nice overview of topics relating to Infection Control that were presented at ECCMID 2017. The overview can be accessed here.

Thank you very much Gabriel for this comprehensive overview!

New publication in Press in CMI

The paper is entitled: "The Methodology of Surveillance for Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections in Europe (SUSPIRE): A Systematic Review of Publicly Available Information" and is authored by Núñez-Núñez M, Navarro MD, Palomo V, Rajendran NB, Del Toro MD, Voss A, Sharland M, Sifakis F, Tacconelli E, Rodríguez-Baño J; members of EPI-NET, COMBACTE-MAGNET and the EUCIC group for SUSPIRE.

For detailed information, please refer to the full publication

EUCIC: Open call for Training and Excellence Centers to join the European programme in Infection Prevention and Control

 

Join the EUCIC Infection Prevention and Control Initiative today and apply to be among one of the training or excellence centers providing modules for students participating in the programme.

Interested institutes are requested to submit full course details and schedule before Friday 14 July 2017.

For more information, please refer to the EUCIC training programmewebsite, the flyer and the training programme.

EUCIC endorses the “WHO 5 May SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands Campaign“

Every 5 May, WHO calls for a renewed focus on hand hygiene improvement and sustainability in health care. Health care settings are asked to sign up to the WHO 5 May SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands Campaign if not already and to respond to the call to action.

Fight antibiotic resistance - it's in your hands

WHO urges you to focus on the fight against antibiotic resistance in the context of hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes. Hand hygiene is at the core of effective IPC to combat antibiotic resistance, and campaigning each year on or around 5 May is one important part of improving behaviour towards IPC best practices. This year the campaign materials are co-branded with ‘Antibiotics, handle with care’ to demonstrate unity between antimicrobial resistance and IPC efforts.

IPC leaders need to champion hand hygiene campaigning and progress their journey of integrating WHO’s “core components” for infection prevention and control in every health facility. Everyone can play their part and here’s how:

  • health workers - clean your hands at the right times
  • chief executive officers and managers of health facilities - support hand hygiene campaigning and IPC programmes, to protect patients from antibiotic resistant infections
  • policy makers - stop antibiotic resistance spread by demonstrating national support for and commitment to infection prevention.

Find out more about WHO’s campaign on hand hygiene and IPC http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/2017/en/

Now is the time to show your support and post your photographs on social media using the WHO photograph board and using
#handhygiene    
#antibioticresistance

http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/selfieboard2017.pdf

Start of EUCIC's training programme "the European Infection Prevention and Control Certificate" at the end of 2017

 

Europe’s approach to infection prevention and control (IPC) is still very heterogeneous among different countries and sometimes also among different healthcare settings within the same country. However, every country has a certain expertise and/or specialty to offer. The mutual exchange of knowledge between European institutes provides a unique perspective on IPC, resulting in a unique European competence. Based on this perspective and competence, a specific educational programme "the European Infection Prevention and Control Certificate" was developed to train a new generation of IPC specialists.


The programme will be presented during this years’ ECCMID in Vienna. Registration for students and submission of applications from institutes to apply to be among the excellence and training centres that offer programme modules, opens at the end of 2017.


If you are interested in receiving further information and being updated on the programme, please leave your name and email address here. Or, come and visit us at the EUCIC booth (part of ESCMID World) at ECCMID 2017!

EUCIC starts the “STOP-Negative” project: Reality and limitationS of InfecTiOn Prevention and control measures against multidrug-resistant Gram-NEGATIVEs in European countries


The EUCIC Implementation Working Group has developed an online survey that should provide an overview on major limitations of the implementation of extensive infection prevention and control measures (IPCM) against the spread of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative (MDR-GN) bacteria among patients in European hospitals. This project also grants national societies a chance to bring specific local drivers of non-compliance with guideline indications on the table for political discussion.

The results of the survey will help to define major structural, educational, and other limitations in implementing available guidelines in controlling MDR-GN in European hospitals, as well as define resource needs. The survey focuses on current legislation and guideline indications by country and implementation and feasibility of those in “real life”. Regular updates on the progression on the survey can be found HERE.

The questionnaire requires only ~15 minutes to be completed. In case you have local definitions for MDR-GN or local infection control guidelines or guidance documents, you are encouraged to upload the documents. Please do so even if the documents are not available in English.

“Selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility test results in European countries: an ESCMID cross-sectional survey” published

EUCIC, ESGAP and EUCAST launched a European survey to explore in which countries selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility testing results has already been implemented at a large scale (regional, national) and how it has been organized. The survey “Selective reporting of antibiotic susceptibility test results in European countries: an ESCMID cross-sectional survey” has now been published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.

Read more