IP Mentor Melissa Travis

You made it to the final session.  We have covered so much over the past 5 weeks, and I know that if you implement each one, you will have a more successful 2022!  I am so excited for you to start this year off right.  Finally, I want to talk to you about your professional goals for this year.  Do you have any?  If not, let's explore some possibilities.

Certification in Infection Control

CDC Train Courses and Certification

APIC Membership

Board Member for local APIC Chapter

Complete APIC training

Get your Bachelors or Masters Degree

Attend the APIC National Conference

Attend the SHEA National Conference

Attend another Infection Prevention Conference

Find a Mentor in Infection Prevention

Just like the other lists, this is not an all inclusive list, but hopefully it will give you some ideas.  It's so important for you to continue to grow professionally as an Infection Preventionist so set some goals and put them on your calendar.  You will thank me later!

If you want to listen to the sessions in the Kicking of 2022 like an EXPERT series, click the links below:

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 1

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 2

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 3

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 4 

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 5 

My goal is to continue providing you with quality educational opportunities that are relevant and convenient.  Feel free to join me here: Facebook Page or here: IP Mentor Podcast.   If you like my page, you will get notifications when I post and go live. If you subscribe to my podcast, you will get notifications for new episodes when they are released.

Interested in learning opportunities and free stuff?  Check out my website: www.ipandcconsulting.com

We are almost done getting ready for the year so hang tight.  I have a couple more things we need to plan for 2022.  Next, we need to plan our Environment of Care rounds for the year.  Most healthcare facilities conduct formal rounds in clinical areas twice per year, and non-clinical areas once per year.  This is always subject to change if there are issues or if you are expecting a regulatory visit.  In my experience, if I don't plan these at the first of the year, I wake up and half the year is gone!  Let's get these dates on the calendar.  I would schedule an entire day for this activity, but you might only need half a day.  Here are some of the common areas you want to monitor:

Nursing units

Kitchen

Laundry Facility

Biohazard and Trash Areas

Specialty Areas- Dialysis, Procedural Areas, etc

Therapy Gyms

Outdoor Areas

Diagnostic Imaging

Laboratory

Materials Management (Storage)

These are some of the most common areas, but this is not an all inclusive list.  It gives you a general idea, but you need to examine your own facility to determine how you want to designate the different areas.  By the way, if you need a tool to help guide your EOC rounds, I have one ready to go here.  If you need more assistance with conducting the rounds, I have an entire course here.  The main thing is that you get this activity on your calendar, and get it done before the end of the year.

Would you rather hear all of this on a podcast?  Don't forget to check out these episodes.

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 1

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 2

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 3

My goal is to continue providing you with quality educational opportunities that are relevant and convenient.  Feel free to join me here: Facebook Page or here: IP Mentor Podcast.   If you like my page, you will get notifications when I post and go live. If you subscribe to my podcast, you will get notifications for new episodes when they are released.

Interested in learning opportunities and free stuff?  Check out my website: www.ipandcconsulting.com

I would enjoy hearing from you if there are some topics that you would like for me to cover in the future.  You can always email me at missytravis@ipandcconsulting.com.

We have covered a lot already, but stay with me.  We have more to cover to ensure you have a successful year!  Next on the list is new guidelines.  Are there any guidelines that have changed in 2022?  One group that changes their definitions each year is the National Healthcare and Safety Network (NHSN).  If you use their definitions, you want to review the new manual that comes out each year.  Other groups update their guidelines throughout the year, but it's possible you may have missed something.  I recommend skimming through these websites and others that are relevant to your facility to make sure you know all the new guidance for the year.


NHSN
CDC
CMS
OSHA
Your State Regulations and Reportable Diseases

Once you review all of the regulations, make note if there are areas you need to add to your Infection Prevention Plan.  I like to keep a running list of new guidance along with where I am in the implementation process.  This helps me stay on track with making sure that I am in compliance with all regulations.  You also want to include any accreditation groups such at The Joint Commission to your list to review for new standards.  I know it seems like a lot of reviewing, but remember many of these have not changed so it's just a matter of confirming that you have any new information.  Also, after you do this once, the following years will be much easier because you already know where to go.  Win!

If you are interested in taking a deeper dive into some of the content or you like to listen rather than read, check out my podcast.  Here are the episodes for the first 2 weeks, and last week will be released on Wednesday.

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 1

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 2

Kicking Off 2022 Like An Expert Part 3

My goal is to continue providing you with quality educational opportunities that are relevant and convenient.  Feel free to join me here: Facebook Page or here: IP Mentor Podcast.   If you like my page, you will get notifications when I post and go live. If you subscribe to my podcast, you will get notifications for new episodes when they are released.

Interested in learning opportunities and free stuff?  Check out my website: www.ipandcconsulting.com

I would enjoy hearing from you if there are some topics that you would like for me to cover in the future.  You can always email me at missytravis@ipandcconsulting.com.

Let's recap.  So far we have covered your annual infection prevention program and annual training.  Now let's move onto the disinfectant list review.  Each year it's important for you to review the current list of disinfectants and obtain approval through the Infection Prevention Committee or whatever committee oversees the Infection Prevention Program.  Word of caution.  Make sure that the items on the list are the actual products being used by the cleaning staff.  I have been surprised in the past by what I actually found on the cleaning cart.  My best advice would be to take the list and do rounds with the Environmental Services leader to determine if the products match.  Here are a couple of things to look for when doing rounds and talking to staff:


EPA approval number on the label
Appropriate contact time being used
Correct PPE being used
Right Disinfectants being used for the right conditions, i.e. bleach for C.diff
Only products on the list being used
Right disinfectant being used for the right surface, i.e. electronics, etc

You may think of other items to look for when you start this process so add them to your list.  If you start a list of things to observe this year, this process will be a breeze next year.  As an added bonus, I included a helpful resource related to selecting disinfectants for your facility.  Your list doesn't have to be fancy.  You can create a simple list with the name, active ingredient, and contact time.  Easy peasy!

My goal is to continue providing you with quality educational opportunities that are relevant and convenient.  Feel free to join me here: Facebook Page or here: IP Mentor Podcast.   If you like my page, you will get notifications when I post and go live. If you subscribe to my podcast, you will get notifications for new episodes when they are released.

Interested in learning opportunities and free stuff?  Check out my website: www.ipandcconsulting.com

I would enjoy hearing from you if there are some topics that you would like for me to cover in the future.  You can always email me at missytravis@ipandcconsulting.com.

Welcome to Part 2 of the series.  Last week we talked about what you need to get done first.  Hopefully, you have completed those tasks so we can continue to move forward.  Next on the list is annual training.  Do you know what annual training is required for your facility?  While each facility has their own regulations to follow, I have made a list of the common types of training that are needed on an annual basis.


OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Training
Fit Testing and Training for N-95 Respirators
Hand Hygiene
Influenza Vaccination and mitigation strategies
COVID-19 Vaccination and mitigation strategies
Device associated infections- CLABSI, CAUTI, Pneumonia
Surgical Site Infections, if applicable
High Level Disinfection, if applicable
Multidrug Resistant Organisms
Isolation
Cleaning and Disinfection

While this is not an all inclusive list, it covers the basics.  If you are unsure what training is required, check your state regulations, accrediting agencies (TJC), and federal regulations (OSHA, CMS).  Since I have been an Infection Preventionist for too many years to mention:), I have already created many of these programs.  If you want to use some of my educational programs, you can check them out here.

My goal is to continue providing you with quality educational opportunities that are relevant and convenient.  Feel free to join me here: Facebook Page or here: IP Mentor Podcast.   If you like my page, you will get notifications when I post and go live. If you subscribe to my podcast, you will get notifications for new episodes when they are released.

Interested in learning opportunities and free stuff?  Check out my website: www.ipandcconsulting.com

I would enjoy hearing from you if there are some topics that you would like for me to cover in the future.  You can always email me at missytravis@ipandcconsulting.com.

Let me officially welcome you to 2022!  I am excited to start a new year, but first we need to do some preparation.  I have talked about this in multiple emails and podcasts, but I feel the need to bring it up again because it is one of the most important strategies for getting your Infection Prevention Program on the right track.  Not to mention it is a requirement for many facilities.  Every successful infection prevention program needs these 3 items:

Annual Evaluation from the prior year (2021)

Risk Assessment for the new year (2022) based on the Annual Evaluation and other data

Infection Prevention Plan and Goals for new year (2022)

If you want a shortcut to developing this process, check out the IP Mentor Program.  Already know how to work through the process, but want customizable documents for your facility?  Go here instead.  If you don't want to use mine, create your own!  Just make sure that you have all of these in place.  

My goal is to continue providing you with quality educational opportunities that are relevant and convenient.  Feel free to join me here: Facebook Page or here: IP Mentor Podcast.   If you like my page, you will get notifications when I post and go live. If you subscribe to my podcast, you will get notifications for new episodes when they are released.

Interested in learning opportunities and free stuff?  Check out my website: www.ipandcconsulting.com.  You can also subscribe to my weekly email updates.

I would enjoy hearing from you if there are some topics that you would like for me to cover in the future.  You can always email me at missytravis@ipandcconsulting.com.