Shining a Light on C. diff with Christian John Lillis
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
Release Date: 09/20/2019
Empowering and Engaging the Everyday Cleaner with John LaRochelle
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
In this episode, we talk with John LaRochelle, a long-standing contributor and board member at TIPS, and President of . To gain a deeper understanding of John's impact, I turned to Michael Diamond, who succinctly framed John's journey: 'John has dedicated his career to uplifting those in the least paid positions. His advocacy and development of technologies and programs have not only enhanced environmental cleaning but also empowered and elevated the cleaners themselves.' John's life and career are fundamentally about empowering and engaging the everyday cleaner. During our discussion,...
info_outline
The Science Behind Long Lasting Surface Disinfection with Jay Denktash and Amit Sehgal
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
The cleaning industry has long been focused on the concept of contact time. But what happens between cleanings? This question grows increasingly pertinent as we navigate both labor shortages and heightened expectations of cleanliness and safety from customers, guests, and patients. A potential part of the solution lies in long-lasting disinfection technology. In this episode, we talk with Jay Denktash and Amit Sehgal from about the science underpinning long-lasting surface disinfection. This concept isn't new. Scientists have been exploring it since the late 1990s, achieving some success. The...
info_outline
Operationalizing Environmental Regulation in Healthcare w/ Shari Solomon
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
On this episode, we're joined by Shari Solomon, the President of , and a TIPS Advisory Council member. Shari's journey in the world of environmental policy and law began with a deep-seated interest in environmental matters. Her desire to influence and effect change led her to study law, which subsequently led her to Capitol Hill, where she dedicated her time to shaping environmental policies. During this period, Shari's fascination with Indoor Air Quality took root, specifically focusing on infection risks posed by microorganisms in the air, such as mold. Driven by the urge to have a more...
info_outline
Helping People Breathe Healthier Indoor Air with Dr. John McKeon
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
As an emergency room doctor, John McKeon often recommended allergy and asthma-friendly products to his patients. One patient’s mother, while trying to take in all the details, told him it would be so nice if someone would just put a label on these products so that she could know which ones met his specs. That single comment was enough to ignite the latent entrepreneurial tendencies that John had always had. Now, John is the CEO of , a company on a mission to help people breathe healthier indoor air. John and his team do this through science (ASL Standards), education (iAIR Academy), and...
info_outline
How To Make Engaging Online Content with Michael Justason
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
On this episode, we talk with Michael Justason from McMaster University and the about online communication. Specifically, we talk about how to do it better. Michael has been teaching in person and online for years and he’s learned some tricks that he says, in some ways, have made him more effective online than in person. Now this was a surprise even to him, and he’s going to explain. Overall, our goal is to share with you these tricks, plus some tools, that Michael has found along the way. We’ll cover a few basic things you can do with lighting, sound, positioning, etc. that will apply...
info_outline
A Practical Approach to Sustainability with Dan Mueller and Malachy McGlynn
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
On this episode we talk with: Dan Mueller, TIPS Advisory Board Member and Senior Vice President, N. American Sales at Kersia Malachy McGlynn, Head of Operations for Healthcare at Kersia Dan and Malachy help us to understand what sustainability really means in the business context and beyond. It’s a nuanced discussion that covers: How Kersia approaches sustainability for their own business operations What problems Kersia is trying to solve How they identified and prioritized potential solutions How they measure and report on the efficacy of their internal sustainability initiatives What...
info_outline
Cleaning Industry Trends for 2023 with CleanLink
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
On this episode we talk with: Wendy Dietzler, Senior Director of Events and Education for , which produces industry-leading events for facilities, cleaning, and freight rail industries, including the National Facilities Management & Technology Conference, CleanLink Summit, and RailTrends. Corinne Zudonyi, editor-in-chief of Contracting Profits, Sanitary Maintenance, and Facility Cleaning Decisions magazines. as well as the online resource, . Wendy and Corinne are going to break down the Cleaning Industry Trends you need to know for 2023 in areas such as: Infection control...
info_outline
Expanding the Scope of Service at the Community Pharmacy with Hector Bremner
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
On this episode, we talk with Hector Bremner. Hector is CEO of which is a pharmacy service innovator focused on acquiring and developing early-stage technologies aimed at moving pharmacy forward. For example, its flagship offering ™ gives community pharmacies a turn-key solution for rapid testing. The reason they’re doing this is because the scope of services being offered by pharmacies is increasing rapidly. And that’s happening because our sick-care system, where we wait for folks to develop diseases and then treat them, is becoming unsustainable. It’s too expensive, we...
info_outline
Putting a Face on Clinical Laboratory Sciences w/ Dr. Rodney Rohde
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
There is a critical shortage of Clinical Laboratory Scientists across the U.S. According to today’s guest, there’s a nationwide gap of roughly 40% and it’s creating a national healthcare crisis that the public doesn’t quite grasp. On this episode we talk with Dr. Rodney Rohde, a Regents’ Professor at Texas State University, and the University Distinguished Chair and Professor for ). Dr. Rhode helps us better understand what a Clinical Laboratory Scientist does, why they are so critical to healthcare delivery, and why it’s so important to raise awareness of the profession, as well...
info_outline
The Future of Hand Washing with Max Simonovsky
The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS)
On this episode, we talk with Max Simonovsky, Founder & CEO of . Max founded Soapy after an interaction with his young child regarding handwashing. It got him thinking about how environmental triggers and our perceptions of them can impact our behaviors. He followed that thread, and it became Soapy. Soapy's hand-washing technology educates, validates, and modifies behavior. In the field, Soapy technology has been used to increase hand-wash adherence by up to 98%. Adherence paired with proper technique, which Soapy also teaches, has a chance to significantly reduce hospital-associated...
info_outlineClostridium difficile (klos-TRID-e-um dif-uh-SEEL), often called C. difficile or C. diff impacts 453,000 people every year. And with 29,000 associated deaths, it takes more lives than AIDS and drunk-driving combined. Yet, most people have never even heard of it. That’s a big problem because you can’t protect yourself from a threat when you don’t even know it exists.
The impact on the business of healthcare is significant too. A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that C. diff-associated diarrhea (CDAD) increases hospital costs by 40% per case (an average of $7,285 ) and puts those infected at high risk for longer hospital stays and readmissions. Some even believe those numbers are likely underestimated.
C. diff presents us with an interesting problem at the cross-section of Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC). It’s an environmental bacterium that’s found pretty much everywhere and is difficult to kill, but it’s usually held in check by the good bacteria in our bodies. The problem usually occurs when a patient is in a weakened state from some other healthcare intervention. That may be an antibiotic treatment for another healthcare-associated infection or chemotherapy, etc. With our bodies in a weakened state and our good bacteria depleted by antibiotics, we become susceptible to C. diff. So, it’s important that we avoid unnecessary antibiotics and execute on all the other IPAC practices like proper hand hygiene and surface cleaning in the hospital so that, as our guest puts it, we can disrupt the chain of events that allow to C. diff to proliferate.
This episode originally aired on The #HCBiz Show! on April 26th, 2017.
On this episode, we’re joined by the co-founder and Executive Director of the Peggy Lillis Foundation (PLF), Christian John Lillis. Like so many people who’ve dedicated their lives to driving change in the healthcare industry, Christian has a very powerful “why”. He lost his mother to a clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection in April 2010. After struggling with the fact that he lost his mother to a disease he never heard of, and later finding out that it impacts so many people, Christian, along with his brother Liam, founded PLF and are building a nationwide C. diff awareness movement by educating the public, empowering advocates and shaping policy.
Christian gives us a deep and personal take on his family’s experience with C. Diff and the work that the Peggy Lillis Foundation is doing to help. We discuss:
- What is clostridium difficile (C. diff)?
- Is C. diff a Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) or something else?
- How important are hand hygiene and environmental cleaning in preventing the spread of C. diff?
- Why haven’t more people heard of C. diff?
- Why is it so hard to measure the true impact of C. diff on our health system? How do we fix that?
- Why do only some states require reporting on outbreaks? How does that affect the business of healthcare? How does it affect the patients?
- What is the Prevention and Public Health Fund? Why is it under fire and what is the impact to the CDC, states and beyond?
- What is the financial impact of C. diff?
Christian’s story is powerful and it’s full of wisdom that can help patients, families, and providers. In our quest to unravel the business of healthcare, it’s important to understand the people we serve and how our work impacts their lives. This is a crash course and I hope it touches you as it did me. Enjoy.
For more details visit DeepDive.tips