Evaluating the accuracy of an automatic counting system to detect dispensing of hand hygiene product.

Background: Hand hygiene (HH) is an essential element of infection prevention and control programs. Direct observation of adherence to the 5 moments for HH is considered the gold standard in compliance monitoring. However, as direct observation introduces potential bias, other strategies have been proposed to supplement HH compliance data in healthcare facilities.

Knowledge and safe handling practices affecting the occupational exposure of nurses and midwives to hazardous drugs: A mixed methods systematic review.

Background: Hazardous drugs are inherently toxic and present a potential occupational exposure risk to nurses and midwives. Hazardous drugs require special handling to minimise the risk of exposure and adverse health effects. Although the use of hazardous drugs in oncology services is well recognised, they are also used in other healthcare areas where nurses and midwives may be unaware there is a risk.

The handling of hazardous medications by nurses and midwives: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: Occupational exposure of healthcare workers to hazardous medications can be potentially harmful. Hazardous medications can be carcinogenic, developmentally toxic, reproductively toxic, genotoxic and/or toxic to organs at low doses. These hazardous medications can be used in many healthcare settings, but published research of occupational exposure has focused almost exclusively on cancer services.

Transforming researchers into writers through a series of semi-structured writing retreats: a mixed methods study.

Aim: To evaluate the experience and effectiveness of six semi-structured writing retreats on research publication quantity and quality for nursing and midwifery academics and research students.

Background: Research publications are necessary to develop a track record to gain competitive funding and for promotion. Publications also improve the standing of universities because their performance is measured in-part by research outputs.

Investigating the effect of enhanced cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment on health-care-associated infections in Australia (CLEEN): a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised, controlled trial.

Background: There is a paucity of high-quality evidence based on clinical endpoints for routine cleaning of shared medical equipment. We assessed the effect of enhanced cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment on health-care-associated infections (HAIs) in hospitalised patients.

Methods: We conducted a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised, controlled trial in ten wards of a single hospital located on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Oral care practices and hospital-acquired pneumonia prevention: A national survey of Australian nurses.

Background: Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) also known as non-ventilator associated pneumonia, is one of the most common infections acquired in hospitalised patients. Improving oral hygiene appears to reduce the incidence of HAP. This study aimed to describe current practices, barriers and facilitators, knowledge and educational preferences of registered nurses performing oral health care in the Australian hospital setting, with a focus on the prevention of HAP.

'I don't want to impose on anybody': Older people and their families discuss their perceptions of risk, cause and care in the context of falls.

Background: Falls in hospitalised patients remain an ongoing challenge for healthcare systems internationally. Limited research exists on the perspectives of older people on falls risk, cause and care.

Objectives: This study explored the experiences of patients and their families after a fall in a healthcare facility.

"A Different Normal": Living With Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen mass disruptions to healthcare globally. People with cancer are in a vulnerable position, and treatment teams may be anxious in making decisions that try to balance risks associated with malignant disease with those of potential exposure to COVID-19. In addition, palliative care is likely to have experienced significant burdens during the pandemic.

The incidence of nosocomial bloodstream infection and urinary tract infection in Australian hospitals before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time series study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on healthcare including increased awareness of infection prevention and control (IPC). The aim of this study was to explore if the heightened awareness of IPC measures implemented in response to the pandemic influenced the rates of healthcare associated infections (HAI) using positive bloodstream and urine cultures as a proxy measure.

Methods: A 3 year retrospective review of laboratory data from 5 hospitals (4 acute public, 1 private) from two states in Australia was undertaken.

Risk of organism acquisition from prior room occupants: An updated systematic review.

Background: Evidence from a previous systematic review indicates that patients admitted to a room where the previous occupant had a multidrug-resistant bacterial infection resulted in an increased risk of subsequent colonisation and infection with the same organism for the next room occupant. In this paper, we have sought to expand and update this review.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken.

Practical infection control training for Victoria's aged care workforce at the time of COVID-19 pandemic: a community case study.

The need to improve career development and training for residential aged care workers in Australia to achieve required essential competencies, including infection prevention and control competencies, has been repeatedly highlighted. In Australia long-term care settings for older adults are known as residential aged care facilities (RACFs). The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the lack of preparedness of the aged care sector to respond to emergencies, and the urgent need to improve the infection prevention and control training in residential aged care facilities.

Mental health and wellbeing of health and aged care workers in Australia, May 2021 - June 2022: a longitudinal cohort study.

Objectives: To assess the mental health and wellbeing of health and aged care workers in Australia during the second and third years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, overall and by occupation group.

Design, Setting, Participants: Longitudinal cohort study of health and aged care workers (ambulance, hospitals, primary care, residential aged care) in Victoria: May-July 2021 (survey 1), October-December 2021 (survey 2), and May-June 2022 (survey 3).

Main Outcome Measures: Proportions of respondents (adjusted for age, gender, socio-economic status) reporting moderate to severe symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PHQ-9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, GAD-7), or post-traumatic stress (Impact of Event Scale-6, IES-6), burnout (abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory, aMBI), or high optimism (10-point visual analogue scale); mean scores (adjusted for age, gender, socio-economic status) for wellbeing (Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult, PWI-A) and resilience (Connor Davidson Resilience Scale 2, CD-RISC-2).

A randomised controlled trial investigating the effect of improving the cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment on healthcare-associated infections: the CLEaning and Enhanced disiNfection (CLEEN) study.

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a common, costly, yet largely preventable complication impacting patients in healthcare settings globally. Improving routine cleaning and disinfection of the hospital environment has been shown to reduce the risk of HAI. Contaminated shared medical equipment presents a primary transmission route for infectious pathogens, yet is rarely studied.

The global spread of misinformation on spiders.

In the internet era, the digital architecture that keeps us connected and informed may also amplify the spread of misinformation. This problem is gaining global attention, as evidence accumulates that misinformation may interfere with democratic processes and undermine collective responses to environmental and health crises. In an increasingly polluted information ecosystem, understanding the factors underlying the generation and spread of misinformation is becoming a pressing scientific and societal challenge.

Psychosocial Interventions at the End-of-Life: A Scoping Review.

Background: The integration of holistic and effective end-of-life (EOL) care into cancer management has increasingly become a recognized field. People living with terminal cancer and their caregivers face a unique set of emotional, spiritual, and social stressors, which may be managed by psychosocial interventions.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the types and characteristics of psychosocial interventions at the EOL for adult cancer patients and their caregivers and to identify gaps in the current literature.

Experience and perspectives of infection prevention staff of the COVID-19 response in Australian hospitals.

Background: Hospital infection prevention and control (IPC) staff have played a key role in adapting and implementing jurisdictional COVID-19 policy during the current pandemic. We aimed to describe the experiences of IPC staff in Australian hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform future pandemic preparedness plans.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involving an online survey distributed to IPC practitioners employed in Australian hospitals.

Mental Health Outcomes in Australian Healthcare and Aged-Care Workers during the Second Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: the COVID-19 pandemic has incurred psychological risks for healthcare workers (HCWs). We established a Victorian HCW cohort (the Coronavirus in Victorian Healthcare and Aged-Care Workers (COVIC-HA) cohort study) to examine COVID-19 impacts on HCWs and assess organisational responses over time.

Methods: mixed-methods cohort study, with baseline data collected via an online survey (7 May-18 July 2021) across four healthcare settings: ambulance, hospitals, primary care, and residential aged-care.

Infection control professionals' and infectious diseases physicians' knowledge, preparedness, and experiences of managing COVID-19 in Australian healthcare settings.

Background: COVID-19 has placed unprecedented demands on infection control professionals (ICPs) and infectious disease (ID) physicians. This study examined their knowledge, preparedness, and experiences managing COVID-19 in the Australian healthcare settings.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of ICPs and ID physician members of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) and the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) was conducted using an online survey.

Environmental hygiene, knowledge and cleaning practice: a phenomenological study of nurses and midwives during COVID-19.

Background: Environmental cleanliness is a fundamental tenet in nursing and midwifery but often overshadowed in practice. This study explored nurses' and midwives' knowledge and experiences of infection prevention and control (IPC) processes and cleaning, and perceptions about workplace risk-management during COVID-19.

Methods: Six registered and enrolled nurses (one with dual midwife qualifications) were recruited.

Enteral nutrition feeding practices by intensive care nurses: A retrospective evaluation.

Background: Enteral nutrition (EN) is an integral component of standard management of critically ill patients in intensive care. However, achieving adequate nutrition in this environment continues to present many challenges.

Design: A descriptive exploratory design using a retrospective review of medical records.

Budget impact analysis of routinely using whole-genomic sequencing of six multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens in Queensland, Australia.

Objective: To predict the cost and health effects of routine use of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of bacterial pathogens compared with those of standard of care.

Design: Budget impact analysis was performed over the following 5 years. Data were primarily from sequencing results on clusters of multidrug-resistant organisms across 27 hospitals.

The frequency of urinary tract infections and the value of antiseptics in community-dwelling people who undertake intermittent urinary catheterization: A systematic review.

Background: This systematic review had 2 aims. First to identify the incidence of urinary tract infection (UTI) and bacteriuria in people undertaking intermittent catheterization (IC), second to determine the effectiveness of antiseptic cleaning of the meatal area prior to IC in reducing the incidence of UTI and bacteriuria.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted.

The utility of frailty indices in predicting the risk of health care associated infections: A systematic review.

Background: Health care associated infections (HAIs) are a major health concern associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The relationship between frailty, a syndrome often associated with older individuals, and HAIs has not been investigated.

Aim: To determine if frailty scoring systems can assist in predicting the risk of developing HAIs in health care settings.