SHEA Spring Meetings 2007, 2011, 2015 and Beyond?

A decade ago, I was a young associate professor of Epidemiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. One afternoon I received a call from Dr. Trish Perl, then President of SHEA and crosstown colleague. Two years earlier, she and I had met when we assisted with the infection control of Bob, an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin at the National Aquarium, who had been diagnosed with Mycobacterium abscessus pneumonia. She was not calling about marine mammals this time, but rather was asking me to serve on the 2007 SHEA Annual Meeting Planning Committee, as the local "Baltimore" representative. It was an amazing experience. For one, it was when I met future colleague, friend and co-blogger Dan Diekema and other mentors and colleagues - see the 2007 AMPC roster below.

Over the years I've been asked to serve on many other meeting committees including the last old format SHEA Scientific Meeting in Dallas (2011) and the first combined meeting, IDWeek 2012. As 2016 represents my last year on the SHEA Program Planning Committee, I've been looking back over the old committee rosters and reminiscing. What struck me most, besides the amazing colleagues I've crossed paths with, is the overwhelming presence of MDs, specifically ID-trained, on the committees. Looking at the rosters from 2007 (above) and 2011 (right) and excluding SHEA staff, 94% were ID physicians over both years.

The preponderance of ID physicians is not surprising, given that SHEA was founded by ID physicians and our board of directors roster is made up of ID physicians. However, the science and practice of infection prevention and stewardship is evolving into a broader multidisciplinary effort. We now frequently collaborate and learn from a variety of well-trained scientists and clinicians including medical sociologists, medical anthropologists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, human-factors engineers, infection preventionists, general internists, MBAs, health economists, pharmacists, microbiologists and health psychologists among others.

When faced with the daunting task of walking in the footsteps of prior co-chairs, Lindsay Nicolle, Scott Fridkin, Charlie Huskins and Dan, we recognized that we had an opportunity to broaden the appeal of the conference and strive towards a truly multidisciplinary program. So in 2015, working with the SHEA board and staff, Susan Huang and I convened a Program Planning Committee (figure below) with 42% of its members trained in fields other than infectious diseases. 

This is not to imply that ~40% is the correct balance. Maybe it should be closer to the 15% of 2016. Perhaps future spring meetings will have an implementation focus and over 50% of the planning committee could be experts outside of infectious diseases and other years the focus could be diagnostics and the committee could be loaded with microbiologists. 

The important thing is that we realize that clinical and scientifically, SHEA and our meeting should not be defined by what we were (ID physicians) and what we are not (APIC), they should be defined by what we hope to achieve. And if we truly hope to prevent healthcare-associated infections and the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, we need more than ID physicians. Plus, I think it will be a lot of fun!

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!

SHEA Spring 2015 Conference - Back to the Future!

Wanted to give you all a quick update as we edge ever closer to SHEA 2015 in Orlando. As many of you know, SHEA 2015 has a new format - closer to 2011 and earlier SHEA meetings. Specifically, we will have HAI-focused scientific abstracts  - both posters and podium presentations. This year, we accepted ~250 top-notch abstracts and 41 will be delivered as podium presentations. Very exciting!

Data:

1) Registration has already exceeded 2014 - register now to get the best (closest) hotel rooms

2) There are eight oral abstract sessions including ones on SSI, Hand Hygiene and Contact Isolation, MDR-GNR, CDI, Devices and Public Reporting, MRSA and Emerging HAI-Pathogens, and Long-Term Care. 

3) This year we will have a Top Abstracts in Hospital Epidemiology session. The top 5 abstracts will be presented on Sunday morning.  Don't miss that session - some really great studies.

4) The meeting will still contain the highly successful and popular SHEA/CDC Certificate Training Course in Healthcare Epidemiology. You just select that you will attend the course when you register.
5) NEW THIS YEAR: SHEA Certificate Course in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Track. This 2-day course (Thursday and Friday - May 14th and 15th) will provide an up-to-date review of the latest epidemiology of HAI in LTC and you'll also get a SHEA Certificate for taking the course.
6) THERE WILL BE SNACKS - breakfast, lunch and snacks are included with your registration.

See you May 14-17, 2015 in Orlando!

Image source: SHEA 2011 Meeting from Infection Control Today.

Tables and Chairs (There Will be Snacks at SHEA): Andrew Bird

best SHEA-specific lyric: "Just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor at all"

SHEA 2015 Update: Abstract Deadline (January 30th), Pro-Con Session and Certificates

SHEA - Orlando, May 14-17, 2015

The SHEA spring meeting in Orlando is really coming together. With the abstract deadline approaching (January 30th) and the full agenda finalized, I wanted to highlight a few things that you should know as you rush to register before the February 13th early registration deadline.

1) Register before February 13th and save $100. If you aren't already a SHEA member - become a member at least 48 hours before registering for the meeting to save even more! Hope to see you in Orlando - May 14-17, 2015.

2) This year, there are two certificate courses that you can select when registering. In addition to the annual SHEA/CDC Training Certificate Course in Healthcare Epidemiology, there is a new SHEA Certificate Course in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Track. When you register and attend either course, you will receive a certificate in addition to CME/CE. Specific sessions for the SHEA/CDC course (purple) and LTC course (orange) are in the grid below.

3) Finally, I wanted highlight the Friday afternoon (May-15th) Pro-Con session titled "Does Pay for Performance Reduce HAI?" In this session the "Con" side saying the policy doesn't work will be discussed by Grace Lee, MD MPH. As you know, she published an important study on the topic in the NEJM (2012). In that quasi-experimental study, she showed that there were no changes in CLABSI, CAUTI or VAP rates before/after the 2008 nonpayment policy implementation in 398 NHSN hospitals. You can read my blogpost on the study here. On the "Pro" side, Teresa Waters, PhD will discuss her recent JAMA-Internal Medicine study (2015) that showed that the CMS policy was associated with reduced HAI. Using a quasi-experimental design and data from 1381 US hospitals participating in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI), she showed that the same CMS policy was associated with an 11% reduction in CLABSI and a 10% reduction in CAUTI but no change in falls or pressure ulcers. So did the policy work or not? Gotta attend SHEA 2015 to find out!

2015 Agenda - Click to enlarge

SHEA 2015: Abstract Site Open

The planning continues for an exciting SHEA Spring 2015 Conference, which will take place May 14-17 in Orlando. The meeting will have a broader format while retaining the highly successful SHEA-CDC Certificate Training Course in Infection Prevention & Healthcare Epidemiology. New additions include a SHEA Certificate Course in Infection Prevention for Long Term Care and focused scientific abstracts related to healthcare epidemiology, including poster and oral abstract awards. The SHEA 2015 abstract submission site just opened and the deadline for submissions is January 16th. So, get excited, tell your friends and start doing science - we can't wait to see what you're doing! And remember, you can't win an abstract award if you don't submit an abstract.

Do you have a question?

IDWeek abstract dispositions were just emailed last week. Hopefully you received good news and have already started planning your trip to Philadelphia! IDweek discounted registration closes July 25th.

For those also attending SHEA2015 in Orlando, this will be the first SHEA meeting in three years where we will be accepting abstracts (kinda like the old days but with competitions, voting and awards). So get busy making science - abstract submission closes January 16, 2015.

Whether you are attending IDWeek, SHEA or both meetings, I thought a quick review of Q&A etiquette was in order. I've pasted an algorithm to follow when you're thinking of asking a question at either meeting. These questions are particularly important to follow if you're thinking about asking a question during a University of Iowa student presentation. Thanks!

source: this diagram has been all over twitter the past two months. I have no idea who to thank or where to give attribution. If anyone knows, please comment and I will update the post. 

SHEA 2015 - New Format - Abstracts - May 14-17

I’m excited to announce that I will be co-chairing the 2015 SHEA meeting with Susan Huang. The new format will combine the highly regarded SHEA Basic Training Course in Healthcare Epidemiology with plenary, abstracts and symposia focused on infection prevention topics including long-term care, implementation science, science communication, MDROs, device infections and antibiotic stewardship. A strong emphasis will be placed on networking and mentoring sessions. The meeting will take place in Orlando, Florida (May 14-17th). The abstract site will be open from August 1, 2014 to January 16, 2015 and awards will be given to the top abstracts and posters at all career levels. So, get busy making science and look forward to seeing you in Orlando!