SHEA 2015: *New* Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Track

 

This is a special guest post by Dr. Silvia Munoz-Price, Enterprise Epidemiologist at Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Institute for Health and Society and the Department of Medicine. She is co-directing the new SHEA Certificate Track in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care at the 2015 SHEA Meeting in Orlando.

In healthcare, we are in the process of transforming our approach from caring of an isolated individual to caring for the population as a whole. Similarly, we are slowly migrating from paying attention to single hospital encounters to focusing on the continuum of care of individuals. These facts are important in the fields of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, as in order to control the spread of highly resistant pathogens we need to internalize that our hospital systems are interconnected through patient transfers. This is particularly evident in the interactions between acute care hospitals, long term care acute care hospitals (LTACHs), and nursing homes within regions. A few years ago, this interrelatedness was elegantly described by Won and colleagues in the midst of a regional outbreak of KPC Klebsiella pneumoniae in the Chicago area (Won et al CID 53: 532-540, figure below). Furthermore, controlling the spreadwithin the LTACH changed the whole transmission dynamic in the region (Munoz-Price Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2010 Apr;31(4):341-7).

Research dealing with Infection Control practices in post-acute care settings is progressing, as recently described in this blog here, here and here. Given our interdependence, it is fundamental that providers in post-acute care --who deal directly with these infection control issues-- are knowledgeable and up to date. This year, SHEA’s Spring meeting will have a 2-day post-acute care track specifically designed to provide a general infection control overview to infection control personnel in post-acute care and LTACHs. The co-Director of this track, Dr. Nimalie Stone, is the Medical Epidemiologist for Long-term Care in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) at CDC. Additionally, we will have top notch speakers such as David Nace, Lona Mody, Curtis Donskey, among others. Upon completion, attendees will receive a certificate from SHEA.

A full description of the track can be found here. Participation and engagement of our post-acute care/LTACH colleagues is fundamental to succeed in our fight against hospital acquired infections.

We hope to meet you in Orlando!

Discounted registration ends April 17th (save $100), so register now!