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Paul G. Auwaerter, MD, MBA; Paul P. Doghramji, MD, FAAFP; Aruna Subramanian, MD

Cases and Conversations™: Applying Best Practices to Prevent Shingles in Your Practice

 health care-acquired infections (HAIs) page presents updates on the latest techniques and strategies in the never-ending battle between infection preventionists and HAIs. Focusing on the latest in medical literature, we also present perspectives from the top infection preventionists and other medical experts in the country about how to put the growing knowledge of HAIs into use in the everyday world of infection prevention. Articles and videos often focus on methods to contain and control pathogens and multidrug-resistant organisms from spreading within the health care system.

As measles cases rise and vaccine misinformation spreads, Infection Control Today spoke with APIC President Dr Carol McLay about restoring trust in immunization.

Rebuilding Trust: How Infection Preventionists Can Lead in the Wake of Vaccine Doubt

A groundbreaking study reveals a strong connection between alcohol use disorder and increased risk for Clostridioides difficile infection, challenging traditional assumptions and calling for enhanced infection prevention protocols.

Uncovering a Hidden Risk: Alcohol Use Disorder Significantly Increases C difficile Infection Rates

These Department of Health and Human Services' layoffs save only 1% of the overall governmental budget. What are we losing when these are gone?

What Is Lost? Federal HHS Layoffs 

Houston Methodist West Hospital reduced surgical site infections in hysterectomy and colorectal cases by implementing an intraoperative isolation bundle and checklist to prevent cross-contamination.

A Checklist for Clean Cuts: Isolation Bundle Reduces SSIs in High-Risk Surgeries

Pennsylvania Hospital cut complex spinal fusion surgical site infections by over 31% through a multidisciplinary initiative focused on evidence-based interventions and collaborative surgical care.

Bad Bugs No More: Pennsylvania Hospital Team Slashes Neurosurgery SSI Rates Through Interdisciplinary Innovation

mproving Preoperative Bathing Compliance Through Standardized Protocols and Team Collaboration

Improving Preoperative Bathing Compliance Through Standardized Protocols and Team Collaboration

At Sinai Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical Center, a team of clinical leaders, Annet Adegboyega, DNP, MSN, BSN, RN, CNOR; Mihyun "Rose" Jang, MSN, MPH, BSN, RN, CNOR; and Renilda Tijones, MSN, BSN, RN, CNOR,

identified an issue with low compliance in preoperative bathing among surgical patients. Recognizing the connection between preop hygiene and surgical site infections (SSIs), they launched an initiative to evaluate and improve the process across multiple departments.

To learn more about this study, “Rethinking Preoperative Washing: Necessity and Effectiveness,” which was presented as a poster at the AORN Global Surgical Conference & Expo held April 5 through 8, 2025, in Boston, Massachusetts.

The project began with a literature review comparing the effectiveness of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) and antimicrobial soap. Surprisingly, the evidence revealed no significant difference between the two products in reducing SSIs. The team concluded that what mattered most was not which product was used but how consistently and correctly it was applied.

One of the early findings was the absence of standardized protocols. Each unit approached preoperative bathing differently, leading to confusion and gaps in patient care. In response, the clinical outcomes team developed and implemented clear, evidence-based protocols. These were distributed hospital-wide and supported with training to ensure both outpatient and inpatient staff understood the procedures.

“We started doing a literature review on how we can improve our compliance for preoperative, bathing, and surgical patients,” Jang said.

After the literature review, we found that either antimicrobial soap or CSG fat has no significant differences in effectiveness in surgical site infections. So, our evidence-based recommendations are first having standardized protocols.”

To measure success, compliance dashboards were created using Tableau, allowing real-time tracking across units. Monitoring not only highlighted areas of improvement but also reinforced accountability. Equally important was educating nurses about the clinical rationale behind pre-op hygiene. Many inpatient nurses lacked familiarity with its role in infection prevention, and targeted education helped increase engagement.

A core insight from the project was that CHG wipes alone are not the answer. If patients didn’t understand how to use them—or couldn’t afford them—the protocol failed. By recognizing that a regular bath could be just as effective when properly completed, the team emphasized accessibility and patient-centered care.

“So the main takeaway is that it's not really about whether CHG is more significant in reducing SSI, or whether it's a regular path,” 

 said. “There aren't enough studies out there that provide a direct relationship between CHG and SSI. SSI is always seen as a multifaceted effect of a certain bundle, and CHG is just one of them. So that's really an opportunity there. What we are looking at in this project is really compliance.”

Ultimately, the initiative succeeded through teamwork, communication, and practical solutions—demonstrating that sustainable change in infection prevention depends as much on collaboration as it does on clinical science.

“This was really great working on because we are a team,” Adegboyega said.

One of the main points I want to put out there, or the main point, is that always working as a team. You cannot do it a lot, and change cannot happen with just one person. It's always a team effort, which also includes other patients.”

A multidisciplinary team tackled low compliance in preoperative bathing, showing that standardization—not product choice—drives surgical site infection prevention and patient safety outcomes.

One Safe Culture: Redefining Staff Safety to Elevate Patient Care Michael Sinnott Patient safety

One Safe Culture: Redefining Staff Safety to Elevate Patient Care

At the 2025 Association for periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Global Surgical Conference in Boston held from April 5 through 9, Michael Sinnott, MBBS, FACEM, FRACP, associate professor at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology, and the cofounder of StaffandPatientSafety.org, delivered a message that struck a deep chord across disciplines: "There can be no true culture of patient safety without a culture of staff safety." 

, Sinnott outlined a powerful evolution in thinking that urges the operating room to adopt what he calls a “One Safe Culture,” where the safety of staff and patients are not competing priorities but codependent necessities.

“Our big belief is that safety is a thinking small and a culture, and so by allowing yourself to think about safety with staff, it'll increase your ability to think safety for patients. So, we think one leads to improvement in the other,” Sinnott said. 

Sinnott’s perspective stems from over a decade of advocacy and research. As early as 2014, he published in the 

 that patient safety efforts fall short when staff safety is neglected. He illustrated this contradiction through what he dubbed the “blameworthy paradox.” While hospitals promote a no-blame culture to encourage the reporting of medical errors that affect patients, staff injuries—such as sharps incidents—are often internalized and unreported due to self-blame and stigma.

Instead, Sinnott highlights the “idea of the no-blame culture. This meant that if I made a mistake and a patient had a bad outcome, or if I made a mistake and there was no bad outcome, I should tell my boss. So instead of yelling at me, my boss should say, ‘Let's sit down with a couple of other interested parties and a couple of experts and work out how we can design something so you won't make this error again and no one else will.’”

This paradox is not just philosophical—it has real consequences. In the US alone, approximately 385,000 sharps injuries are reported each year. Sinnott estimates that the actual number is likely double that, as over half go unreported. These injuries can result in serious infections such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV, and the lack of documentation means little is done to prevent future incidents.

Sinnott advocates that safety must become a mindset shared across every level of care. Drawing on James Reason’s “Swiss Cheese Model” of system failure, he emphasized the need for layers of protection—not just for patients but for staff. “I think the biggest challenge is a lack of respect for their own safety,” Sinnott said.

His latest proposal is deceptively simple but transformative: incorporate a staff safety checklist into the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. “We should have a couple of staff safety checks in that list to improve staff safety because we believe that staff safety should be improved in its own right, but it will also have the added effect that it will also improve patient safety,” Sinnott said. Based on surveys of nurses in the UK and Australia, the top priorities for inclusion were smoke evacuators, face shields, and single-handed scalpel blade removal systems.

During a visit to a vascular access institute in South Carolina, Sinnott observed firsthand how staff vigilance could reinforce this safety culture. A scrub nurse calmly noted that Sinnott wasn’t wearing a face shield and non-judgmentally asked why. That moment sparked the realization that staff safety practices could—and should—be as embedded in surgical routines as patient counts or site verification.

One of Sinnott’s more sobering revelations came from a survey showing that 6 in 10 nurses still remove scalpel blades with their fingers, despite OSHA's 2023 update explicitly stating that fingers, Kelly clamps, and needle holders do not meet the standard for safe removal. “By allowing yourself to think about safety with staff, it'll increase your ability to think safety for patients. We think one leads to improvement in the other,” Sinnott said.

But that mindset is slowly changing, a shift Sinnott attributes to the “silver lining” of COVID-19. The pandemic heightened awareness of staff vulnerabilities, and for the first time, the general public began to view clinician safety as integral to quality care. “[Staff] became a little bit more aware of the importance of staff safety. And so now we see a little bit of overlap in the two circles, but we really need to see those circles superimposed,” he emphasized.

To bring about this cultural change, Sinnott believes education is critical, but so is emotional reframing. Sinnott said that they ask nurses, ‘Would you want your child working in unsafe conditions?’ Or, ‘Do you believe your colleagues deserve safety?’ When the answer is yes, it opens the door to valuing their own safety too.

Sinnott praised AORN for being one of the few organizations to consistently platform the staff safety movement. “AORN has always been very supportive of what once was an outlying opinion, and so with their support, hopefully, it's becoming more accepted that staff safety is important and that we should be aiming for one safe culture for everyone—staff and patients.”

At AORN 2025, Dr. Michael Sinnott called for a unified safety culture—one that protects both patients and staff through shared responsibility, accountability, and systemic change.

Conference

Meet Marjorie Wall, EDBA, CRCST, CIS, CHL, CSSBB.

's) Editorial Advisory Board members—a diverse group of professionals dedicated to advancing infection prevention and control practices. This series highlights each member's unique expertise and contributions to the field.

From groundbreaking research to innovative strategies, these experts are at the forefront of enhancing health care safety. Join us as we learn their insights, experiences, and visions for the future, providing valuable knowledge and inspiration to elevate infection control protocols.

Marjorie Wall, EDBA, CRCST, CIS, CHL, CSSBB.

I serve as the associate director of sterile processing at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California. Additionally, I am the former president of the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA), which has approximately 40,000 members worldwide. I've been in the field for about 25 years and have been very successful.

But I'd like to share a little about my journey with you because that's not where I started or what makes me who I am. So, believe it or not, I started in the field in the [19]90s. I don't want to age myself any more than I already have, but I did start in the [19]90s, and I was a cocky college student at the University of Georgia, and one of my friends from high school asked me if I needed a weekend job.

And I said, “Yes, I would love a weekend job.” I got a job in sterile processing, working every weekend. They put me through a 2-week training program, and I was so confident and amazing and a superstar. I mean, I was a math major on a full scholarship. I knew what I was doing, and the first weekend, I worked by myself. I reprocessed some Synthes DHS Hip Instruments.

I was proud. I washed them. I inspected them. I did all the steps, used the count sheet, and ensured everything was there. I sterilized them using the right parameters and sent them to the operating room [for] the following Monday.

The following Monday, they used those instruments on a patient. When they went to use the first tray, they found contaminated instruments and bioburden. The second tray I processed was the same way.

As you would expect, the same thing happened. My boss [told me the department] flashed the instrument. They sent him to get washed, and then they flashed them, and they finished the surgery. My boss called me into the office the next day when I worked and asked me what happened. She told me that I would have been fired if I hadn't been brand new.

The experience shook me. Later, I found out the patient did have a surgical site infection, so the patient was harmed. And again, I was this overconfident 20-year-old in Georgia, so it upset me that I had harmed someone, which impacted the core of who I am. I realized I wasn't just in a weekend job to get through school. I was in this field, in this position where it was so important that I knew and did my very best and knew everything that I could learn to make sure that patients had the best care they could receive.

As I grew in the field, eventually becoming a manager, supervisor, manager, and director, it became less about me making sure I was my best, although that pressure is still there. (Believe me; ask anyone who knows me, and they'll tell you how hard I am on myself.) But it's also about making sure my employees are set up for success, that we have training programs where SPD [sterile processing department] professionals get the information they need to be successful, where we have technology and innovation that gives people all the information they need when they need it, where we have things like six sigma and process improvement that create workflows that ensure patients are getting consistent outcomes for every procedure from every instrument tray that's used on them.

This event that happened to me put me in a position to want to improve the industry and make things better, which is where I started doing 

. I got my doctorate. My dissertation, which was on the giving of disruptive technology and health care industry, and even currently, where I go to Harvard Med School for a post-doctorate master’s, all of this work that I do, all of the impact that I've made in the industry, comes from this motivation of wanting to make sure our patients get the best care possible, and our sterile processing professionals are set up for success to do that.

With that said, I'd like to jump into some of the trending topics in the SPD field right now; our industry is changing radically every day. What is the latest, latest, and greatest hottest technology solution? The big topics we're going to see in the coming year will be automation, creating robotics, and automated processes that will get more consistent outcomes. We will see a lot more conversations about artificial intelligence and visual recognition, especially when it comes to instrument identification and bioburden or broken instrument identification; those will become consistently bigger and bigger topics. We're also going to start seeing things like CO Pilot Assist, where several processing people have AI systems or technology solutions that help them get all the real-time information they need to understand manufacturers’ instructions for using the instruments and devices they're processing. 

Many hospitals have 100,000 instruments SPD techs are expected to know, and they will have this technology at their fingertips to help them succeed in those roles. The other big topic outside of innovation and technology is the professionalization of the steward processing field. Historically, SPD people have been seen as an entry-level job where, much like me back in the day, I came in with no experience, 2 weeks of training, and I was told, “Good luck. You got this.”

We know that's not the case anymore. It's a true profession, and it takes a strong knowledge base to succeed. So we're seeing more and more people getting certifications, going for education, attending conferences, reading articles, creating or listening to podcasts, and all of this is an effort for sterile processing professionals to increase their knowledge base and be professionals. 

One of the things that I'm proud of in the field right now, which, again, is a very big trending topic, is we're seeing more and more doctors of sterile processing, so there are a ton of people that are going out getting advanced education, whether it's bachelors, masters and even doctorates, that are industry leaders in the sterile processing field. And I'm here, and I love seeing that we're also seeing a shift in how sterile processing departments are perceived historically. SPD was either materials management or perioperative services.

We're seeing more and more departments becoming their own, standalone departments under a [vice president] of operations or a COO [chief operating officer] with system leaders over those departments at the field level or with VPs in those hospitals, as well as senior directors. We're seeing this elevation of the field, and we're also seeing the professionalization of the field, which is all very exciting.

What gets to me is that historically, SPD has been seen as a technology job, a 

 job. We'll start seeing people consider it more of a 

 job. It's not just something you can train people to do a task; it requires technical knowledge and expertise to perform that function. We will start seeing that continue to grow and develop, and people will talk about it like crazy.

The next couple of years are going to be very exciting.

Some of the technical topics that I'd like to see covered in 

 magazine are important because we need them. That resource is the body of knowledge for SPD and infection control professionals to access and grow their knowledge base. So, I'd like to see more about flexible scopes, especially the push to move from high-level disinfection to sterilization.

I'd like to see more about the new AAMI ST58 standard released on chemical sterilization. It's a big topic there as well. Then you know more and more of those technical, scientific topics, like st 108, with water and steam quality endotoxins. One that I came across recently was using UV light as a high-level disinfection methodology, which is new, innovative, and exciting. And when I was in Cleveland, I saw a presentation on how alcohol may not be the best drying agent for flexible scopes. 

So all of these are very technical concepts, very 

 magazine as a way to cover those topics, put them in a format and a shape that practitioners so sterile, processing professionals, epidemiology professionals, can read and take back with them and apply in their everyday worlds. And that's how we will transform the industry and improve things for patients and our employees.

Meet the experts shaping infection prevention: Infection Control Today's Editorial Advisory Board members share insights, experiences, and cutting-edge strategies to enhance health care safety and quality. Meet Marjorie Wall, EDBA, CRCST, CIS, CHL, CSSBB.
  

Meet ICT's EAB Member, Marjorie Wall, EDBA, CRCST, CIS, CHL, CSSBB

Bridging the Gap: Infection Prevention in Veterinary Medicine

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a critical part of health care, and veterinary medicine is no exception. Danielle Banks, BSc (Hons) RVN GradDipVN, is a registered veterinary nurse for Davies Veterinary Specialists, based in the north of London, England, in Hitchin Hertfordshire.

She is at the forefront of advancing IPC in animal care. With over 20 years of experience, Banks has dedicated her career to improving infection control protocols in veterinary hospitals, which traditionally lag behind human health care.

) to discuss her role and its importance, not only with animals, but with the broader One Health initiative. 

 is a relatively new field, but it is gaining traction due to the growing concerns over antimicrobial resistance and the One Health approach—recognizing the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health. While hospitals and clinics in human medicine have well-established IPC protocols, veterinary practices must often adapt research and guidelines from human health care to fit their unique settings.

“My role as an IP veterinary nurse is really rare.  I'm fortunate to have this role. So, within the veterinary group, I certainly work for most clinics. Rather than having a dedicated IP nurse, we would have infection control representatives. So they're effectively, there's someone who champions IP within their clinic, and that might be a lead nurse or a clinician who has that additional responsibility on top of their existing role. They're championing hand hygiene. They will be the ones to help inspire and create that necessary positive culture around hand hygiene. They will be doing the training, the education piece, those compliance checks, and, of course, those gentle reminders, which are important."

Bank continues, "The other thing that I see certainly is that that leadership and management support, that that's right, vital, so that you know staff on the clinic floor can see leaders practicing that hand hygiene so then others follow, and it embeds IP and hand hygiene as part of patient and staff safety.”

A typical day for Banks involves staff training, policy development, environmental cleaning oversight, patient placement, and monitoring infection rates. She also works on outbreak management and collaborates with public health officials when necessary. Banks helps shape IPC strategies across multiple veterinary clinics as part of a UK-wide veterinary group, ensuring standardized best practices.

One major challenge in veterinary IPC is antimicrobial resistance. Banks emphasizes the importance of educating pet owners about responsible antibiotic use and the risks of overprescribing. She also highlights the need for improved hand hygiene adherence, an issue that parallels human health care settings.

Banks envisions a future where veterinary IPC is more structured, with dedicated training courses and professional networks similar to human healthcare. With increasing awareness and collaboration, veterinary infection control will continue to evolve, benefiting both animal and human health.

Danielle Banks, a UK-based veterinary nurse, discusses the growing importance of infection prevention in animal care, tackling antimicrobial resistance, hand hygiene, and adapting human health care protocols.

Who Are Veterinary Infection Preventionists?

The Rising Threat of Fungal Infections Urgent Need for New Treatments

The Rising Threat of Fungal Infections and the Urgent Need for New Treatments

Infectious diseases have long been a major concern for global health. While much attention is given to bacterial and viral infections, fungal diseases remain an underappreciated and growing threat. With limited treatment options and rising resistance to existing antifungal drugs, the world is facing a silent crisis that could have devastating consequences. 

David Angulo, MD, an infectious disease specialist and the president and CEO of SCYNEXIS, discusses the urgent need for new antifungal treatments and the challenges in combating fungal resistance in this interview with 

Understanding the Scope of Fungal Infections

In this interview, Angulo explains that when most people think of fungal infections, they often imagine superficial conditions like toenail or yeast infections. While these are common and generally treatable, a far more dangerous category of fungal diseases exists—one that attacks the lungs, bloodstream, brain, and other organs. 

These invasive fungal infections are often life-threatening, with mortality rates ranging from 20% to 80%, particularly among immunocompromised individuals.

Angulo explains that patients undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplant recipients, and those in intensive care units are at the highest risk. In these situations, “You have multiple catheters placed in your body because of that reason, and then the fungi had the opportunity to get into your body and to cause these very severe infections,” Angulo said.

Angulo discusses the most common invasive fungal infections, which include:

 species, which can spread to organs and cause severe complications.

, a mold commonly found in the environment. It can destroy lung tissue and lead to fatal respiratory failure.

: A rare but aggressive fungal infection with a mortality rate as high as 80%, affecting the sinuses, lungs, and brain.

: A fungal pneumonia endemic to certain regions, such as the southwestern US, that is expanding due to climate change.

Why Antifungal Resistance is a Growing Concern

The fight against fungal infections is growing more challenging because of rising antifungal resistance. In contrast to bacterial infections, which benefit from numerous groups of antibiotics, antifungal therapies consist of only 3 primary drug classes, as Angulo explains in the interview:

 One of the first antifungal treatments, effective but highly toxic and limited to intravenous use.

Azoles (eg, Fluconazole, Voriconazole, Posaconazole): 

The most commonly used antifungals, but resistance to azoles is growing at an alarming rate.

Echinocandins (eg, Caspofungin, Micafungin, Anidulafungin):

 Newer antifungals with a better safety profile but limited to intravenous administration.

Angulo emphasizes the critical need for innovation: “Over the years, fungi have developed resistance against many of them, and at this point, that's the biggest concern,” he said.

His company, SCYNEXIS, is at the forefront of this fight, developing a new class of antifungal drugs called triterpenoids. "Our focus has been in trying to address the problem of antimicrobial resistance in the antifungal space, and really how to tackle those very difficult to treat diseases. That has been the focus and the passion of this organization for the past 10 years," he explains.

By raising awareness and pushing for policy changes, the fight against deadly fungal infections remains a global priority.

’s interview with Angulo to learn more about the history and treatment of fungal diseases.

David Angulo, MD, infectious disease expert, discusses the alarming rise of drug-resistant fungal infections, the lack of treatment options, and the urgent need for new antifungal therapies.

The Future of Reusable PPE in Healthcare: A Sustainable and Cost-Effective Solution

The conversation around reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) is gaining traction, especially in the wake of the pandemic-induced shortages. 

 (TRSA), and Dyan Troxel, MSN, RN, the director of clinical education at Handcraft Linen Services, shed light on the benefits and challenges of shifting toward reusable health care textiles. The experts cover key findings from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop on reusable personal protective equipment (PPE), addressing misconceptions about reusable linens, and current state policy issues.


The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a workshop to examine the viability of reusable PPE. Findings revealed that reusable textiles offer significant advantages: lower costs, reduced environmental waste, and strengthened supply chain resilience. Unlike disposable PPE, which creates 15,000 tons of waste daily, reusable PPE can withstand up to 75 washes while maintaining its protective integrity.

“The reusable product, specifically reusable PPE in [a] health care environment, it reduced cost, it reduced waste, it improved supply chain resilience, and is a more environmentally sustainable product for the industry. Their ultimate outcome is to explore partnerships with organizations that can help increase the adoption of reusable healthcare PPE,” Ricci said.

Hospitals often hesitate to adopt reusable PPE due to concerns over cleanliness and storage logistics. However, commercial laundries follow rigorous hygienic standards, ensuring that reused PPE meets or exceeds safety requirements. TRSA’s Hygienically Clean Certification ensures that laundering processes eliminate bacteria and contaminants effectively, reinforcing confidence in reusable options.

Troxel said, “We have to convince the people [that the process is safe], and that's part of my job as the clinical educator. I go in and explain the process, invite them to our plant and tour, showcase that we are hygienically clean certified by TRSA, and explain that part of it to get them to understand.”


Despite the benefits, barriers to widespread implementation remain. Many healthcare facilities rely on disposable PPE due to habit, convenience, and purchasing structures tied to group purchasing organizations (GPOs). Decision-makers often view PPE as a disposable commodity rather than a service-based system, making the transition challenging.

Nurses and frontline workers must also feel comfortable using reusable PPE. Studies indicate that 60% of health care workers prefer cloth-based PPE over disposable alternatives due to comfort, durability, and perceived safety. Educating staff and administrators about the efficacy of reusable textiles is essential to shifting mindsets.


Ricci explained that several states, including New York and California, are considering mandates to require at least 50% reusable PPE usage in health care facilities. Europe’s health care sector has already embraced reusable textiles, experiencing fewer PPE shortages during the pandemic. The CDC and other federal agencies could play a pivotal role by recommending reusable PPE in health care guidelines.

“Europe had about 30% more reusable products than Canada, and they avoided shortages because they could rely on that rotating inventory. Since that inventory was available, production continued, allowing them to obtain that product and not [have the shortages we experienced.] They also consider the environment seriously. They are ahead of us on environmental issues, no doubt about it. Just look at their approach to the carbon tax and their efforts on extended producer responsibility and reducing single-use products. It makes a lot more sense to them than it does to us, but we're making progress. I think we're beginning to look at it more universally.”


The shift toward reusable PPE requires a cultural change, strategic investment, and industry-wide collaboration. As health care facilities prioritize sustainability and supply chain resilience, reusable PPE offers a proven, long-term solution.

Ricci said educating health care workers on the benefits of reusable linens is vital. “We're making an effort to sit down with the stakeholders in our industry, collaborate with them, communicate with them, educate them on the importance of the reusable product and what it does within our current healthcare environment and our changing health care environment.”

Troxel agreed and said, “It's about making sure that frontline staff have what they need for their best protection possible to keep patients safe.”

 Annual Conference from May 13 to 15 in Greater Palm Springs. Find information 

Here is a link to the National Academies’ proceedings: 

https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/reusable-health-care-textiles-for-personal-protective-equipment-a-workshop

The NAS final report can be found here: 

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27762/reusable-health-care-textiles-for-use-in-personal-protective-equipment

Here is a link to the TRSA release, which includes a handy summary of the NAS findings: 

https://www.trsa.org/news/national-academies-workshop-validates-the-benefits-of-reusable-ppe/

Reusable PPE offers a cost-effective, sustainable solution for health care, reducing waste and improving supply chain resilience. Overcoming adoption barriers requires education, policy support, and industry-wide collaboration.

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