Meet Infection Control Today's Editorial Advisory Board: Tommy Davis, PhD, ACHE, APIC, BLS

Introducing the Infection Control Today's (ICT's) Editorial 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.

In this installment, we hear from Tommy Davis, PhD, ACHE, APIC, BLS, the CEO and principal officer of High Disinfection Consulting, LLC, in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.

My name is Tommy Davis. I am a retired trauma chaplain for the sheriff's department. I decided to go back into environmental infection control because this is how I put myself through college. During college, I worked as a housekeeper and a meat packer. I worked for different meat packing companies in the environmental services (EVS) department, and our job was to ensure that our meats were safe to eat and consume.

Infection Control Today's Editorial Advisory Board Member: Tommy Davis, PhD, ACME, APIC, BLS

I put myself through college. So, when I went to be a trauma chaplain, I went to a seminary, earned my master's degree, became a chaplain, and earned my doctorate in organizational management. But at the same time, I wanted to study epidemiology. I got into studying epidemiology and began to take courses on infection control. I found out that upon my retirement, this was a career that I wanted to go into.

So, I began to study epidemiology and earn some certificates under the curriculum of Johns Hopkins University study with the Tulane School of Medicine contact hours. I did 100…a lot of hours on this. When I rejoined the EVS department, some directors and managers were functioning in the danger zone. What I mean by that is they were using unauthorized chemicals. They were using the same toilet brush for Clostridioides difficile rooms and other isolation rooms, and they were spreading germs all over the place.

It really bothered me, and so I decided to get back into EVS and join health care to play a part and limit eliminating health care-associated infections (HAIs). I work with several different companies now. I work with a hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, helping them reach the next level. I'm making contributions that would make patients and personnel safer and have better management practices regarding housekeepers, the trends I see in infection prevention. And it's staggering.

Some of the latest studies I have identified talk about a 20 to 40% assumption infection rate regarding environmental contamination of environmental surfaces. Okay, we're talking about surfaces not being cleaned properly and people not performing hand hygiene. So, you know, scholars are trying to pinpoint within that 20 or 40% range the infection rate when it comes to cross-contamination, and the trend that I'm seeing among professionals, and we're talking particularly health care support groups, our people are coming in. They're trying to get more education relative to infection prevention due to COVID-19.

COVID-19 was a very scary time for the world, and we needed to devise a plan to deal with not just COVID-19 but everything else that we should have paid more attention to. And so EVS directors and infection preventionists (IPs) with a nursing background are getting more education to put themselves in a position to fight against our infections, which is very important. But we do have some people out there who want a job. They're not concerned about the numbers and things of that nature.

This is where Infection Control Today^® magazine comes in because we can educate those willing to get ahead of what may come next, and I think that's very important right now. I consider myself an EVS expert. You know, I'm not. I don't have a nursing background. I've studied epidemiology, studying the behavior of pathogens and how those pathogens can be eliminated. And the magazine is positioned to educate EVS practitioners on the importance of disease elimination in cleaning.

Most of our IPs have a nursing background, and that's okay, but the backbone of infection control and surface decontamination falls within EVS. If we cover more regarding the correct disinfectants, when to clean, when to provide a disinfectant, and what kind of disinfectant to deploy, I think that will be very important.

Throughout my experience, I've seen EVS directors deploy chemicals that do nothing for the pathogen, and it had very, very disastrous effects. This must stop, and not because they want to do anything to harm patients or healthcare personnel. They didn't know, and I believe that the magazine can help eliminate our health care environment's problems by covering more issues dealing with environmental services.

I love this opportunity to be able to do this because I look at my career as a trauma chaplain. I've dealt with cognitive issues all the time and some of the same stuff I'm dealing with now in the healthcare environment. But we're in a time when the disease will be with us, and I believe it will require a new form of expert EVS researchers. Know people who can work with epidemiologists and microbiologists. You know, these are areas that we can come together to make sure that when a patient comes within our facility, that patient will not leave with something they didn't come in there with. Only we can do that on our end if we provide an environment that is not a harbor of anything dangerous to the patient or staff. It's very important for me to share my knowledge over the years in this very important magazine, and I'm delighted to be a part of anything you do.

(Quotes have been edited for clarity.)