Using Video-Reflexive Methods to Develop a Provider Down Protocol for the New South Wales Biocontainment Center.

The New South Wales Biocontainment Centre is a statewide referral facility for patients with high-consequence infectious disease (HCID). The facility collaborates with researchers to adapt existing HCID procedures such as donning and doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, information on how to respond safely to collapse of a healthcare provider in full PPE within a contaminated zone is scarce.

Risk assessment and the use of personal protective equipment in an emergency department: Differing perspectives of emergency and infection control clinicians. A video-vignette survey.

Background: The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in emergency departments (EDs) is an important defense during infectious disease emergencies. However, what counts as appropriate PPE in EDs is contentious and inconsistently implemented in practice.

Methods: An online scenario-based video survey was distributed through purposive sampling, and completed by 270 ED and infection prevention and control clinicians in Australia.

Exploring the safety and quality of mobile X-ray imaging in a new infectious disease biocontainment unit: an in situ simulation and video-reflexive study.

Objectives: During a precommissioning inspection of a new biocontainment centre, radiographers noted structural features of quarantine rooms that could compromise staff and patient safety and the X-ray image quality, even after significant modifications had been made to an earlier radiography protocol. The aim of this study was to explore the safety and effectiveness of the modified protocol, in the new space, and identify improvements, if required.

Design: A qualitative study using in situ simulation and video-reflexive methods.

Hospital health care workers' use of facial protective equipment before the COVID-19 pandemic, implications for future policy.

Background: Prepandemic routine use of facial (respiratory and eye) protective equipment (FPE) by health care workers was suboptimal. Understanding factors affecting routine use would facilitate escalation to high level use during infectious disease emergencies. This study explored health care workers FPE-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors.

Planning and executing a national point prevalence study: a blueprint for the future.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a significant risk for patients and a burden on the health system. In 2021, the Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission New Zealand Infection Prevention and Control Team undertook a national HAI point prevalence survey (PPS) across all 20 district health boards (DHBs). We describe the process that was undertaken to plan for and execute the PPS.

Sources of healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in New Zealand acute hospitals.

Aim: The primary aim of this study was to identify the source of healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (HA-SAB) in acute district health board (DHB) hospitals to inform future national quality improvement activities.

Method: De-identified HA-SAB event source information was submitted to the Commission from all DHBs for the period 1 January 2017 to 30 June 2021. Data was categorised and analysed to identify trends and significant sources of infection.

Exploring healthcare workers' perspectives of video feedback for training in the use of powered air purifying respirators (PAPR) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: With the advent of COVID-19, many healthcare workers (HWs) in Australia requested access to powered air purifying respirators (PAPR) for improved respiratory protection, comfort and visibility. The urgency of the response at our hospital required rapid deployment of innovative training to ensure the safe use of PAPRs, in particular, a video-feedback training option to prepare HWs for PAPR competency.

Aim: To explore the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of video-feedback in PAPR training and competency assessment.

'Like building a plane and flying it all in one go': an interview study of infection prevention and control in Australian general practice during the first 2 years of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Objectives: General practitioners (GPs) and their staff have been at the frontline of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Australia. However, their experiences of responding to and managing the risks of viral transmission within their facilities are poorly described. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences, and infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies adopted by general practices, including enablers of and challenges to implementation, to contribute to our understanding of the pandemic response in this critical sector.

"One minute it's an airborne virus, then it's a droplet virus, and then it's like nobody really knows…": Experiences of pandemic PPE amongst Australian healthcare workers.

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has challenged health systems globally. A key controversy has been how to protect healthcare workers (HCWs) using personal protective equipment (PPE).

Methods: Interviews were performed with 63 HCWs across two states in Australia to explore their experiences of PPE during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Testing the efficacy and acceptability of video-reflexive methods in personal protective equipment training for medical interns: a mixed methods study.

Objectives: To test the efficacy and acceptability of video-reflexive methods for training medical interns in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Design: Mixed methods study.

Setting: A tertiary-care teaching hospital, Sydney, January 2018-February 2019.

Education and training in infection prevention and control: Exploring support for national standards.

Background: Effective infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes comprise a hierarchy of preventive measures, one of which is appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE). A poor understanding of the role of PPE and sub-optimal use may fail to prevent or even increase pathogen transmission during routine care or an infectious disease outbreak. Variability in delivery and content of IPC and PPE education and training across organisations can lead to confusion, unsafe practice, and lack of confidence among clinicians.

COVID-19 in Australia: our national response to the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the early biocontainment phase.

Background: On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization recognised clusters of pneumonia-like cases due to a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 became a pandemic 71 days later.

Aim: To report the clinical and epidemiological features, laboratory data and outcomes of the first group of 11 returned travellers with COVID-19 in Australia.

Medical interns' reflections on their training in use of personal protective equipment.

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential, to prevent the acquisition and transmission of infectious diseases, yet its use is often sub-optimal in the clinical setting. Training and education are important to ensure and sustain the safe and effective use of PPE by medical interns, but current methods are often inadequate in providing the relevant knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study was to explore medical graduates' experiences of the use of PPE and identify opportunities for improvement in education and training programmes, to improve occupational and patient safety.

Characteristics of personal protective equipment training programs in Australia and New Zealand hospitals: A survey.

Background: Using personal protective equipment (PPE) is one of several fundamental measures to prevent the transmission of infection and infectious diseases and is particularly pertinent in the current COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate use of PPE by healthcare workers is, however, often suboptimal. Training and monitoring of PPE competency are essential components of an infection prevention and control program but there is a paucity of research and data on the content of such training programs across Australasia.

Enablers of, and barriers to, optimal glove and mask use for routine care in the emergency department: an ethnographic study of Australian clinicians.

Background: The risk of healthcare-acquired infection increases during outbreaks of novel infectious diseases. Emergency department (ED) clinicians are at high risk of exposure to both these and common communicable diseases. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is recommended to protect clinicians from acquiring, or becoming vectors of, infection, yet compliance is typically sub-optimal.

Clinician perceptions of respiratory infection risk; a rationale for research into mask use in routine practice.

Outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are global threats to society. Planning for, and responses to, such events must include healthcare and other measures based on current evidence. An important area of infection prevention and control (IPC) is the optimal use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by healthcare workers (HCWs), including masks for protection against respiratory pathogens.

How the Critical Path Initiative Addresses CDER's Regulatory Science Needs: Some Illustrative Examples.

Since 2008, the Critical Path Initiative has supported FDA's program of intramural research projects in regulatory science, with the goal of improving translation of advances in emerging sciences to the development of safe and effective medical products. Since 2011, the research of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), including the work supported by the Critical Path Initiative, has been guided by the regulatory science needs identified in the CDER science and research needs report. In this review, the authors highlight a few of CDER'S Critical Path Initiative research projects, each addressing a different regulatory science need, to illustrate the diversity of regulatory science at CDER.

Patient experience of source isolation: lessons for clinical practice.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is now the leading antimicrobial-resistant organism of concern to clinicians worldwide. Preventing and controlling the increase and spread of MRSA within the health-care environment is therefore an important function of the infection control team. The prevention and control of MRSA requires strict use of both Standard and Additional Precautions, which include good hand hygiene practices, judicious antimicrobial prescribing, and source isolation.