“Debugging Health Care Together!”

Volume 49 – May 2010

In This Issue

PICNet at CHICA-Canada’s National Educational Conference

Stop Clean Your Hands Day & Save Lives: Clean Your Hands –

May 5, 2010

Thank You for Your Feedback!

PICNet Working Group Updates

PICNet Reminders

Webber Training

Visit PICNet at CHICA-Canada’s National Educational Conference!

The Community and Hospital Infection Control Association-Canada’s (CHICA-Canada) upcoming National Educational Conference is being held in Vancouver this year from May 29^th to June 3rd, 2010 at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre. We are pleased that CHICA has selected Vancouver as their host city this year and look forward to welcoming CHICA’s members to our beautiful province. The educational conference offers a wide range of infection control topics from best practices to organizational change and new technologies. If you have not registered for the conference, there is still time – visit the 2010 Conference page on the CHICA website for more information.

Visit PICNet’s booth at the conference to learn about our current activities and for your chance to pick up the new PICNet 2010/2011 calendar. PICNet would like to thank the Communications Leadership Group for their contributions to the calendar. We hope to see you there!

Stop Clean Your Hands Day & Save Lives: Clean Your Hands – May 5, 2010

On May 5, 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) is celebrating a global hand hygiene call to action. The Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Accreditation Canada and CHICA-Canada invite you to participate in "STOP! Clean Your Hands Day," which coincides with the WHO global initiative.

For more information, please visit the “Save Lives: Clean Your Hands” page on the WHO website or visit the “STOP! Clean Your Hands Day” page on the Safer Healthcare Now website.

Thank You for Your Feedback!

PICNet would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete the Community of Practice Survey: How are we doing? We received many positive responses, but we also recognized many opportunities for improvement and growth. Thank you for your feedback and ongoing support.

PICNet Working Group Updates

Provincial Surveillance Program

The Surveillance Steering Committee has been meeting regularly and working diligently towards standardizing the case definition and the minimal data set for the meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) module. Recently, Accreditation Canada introduced refined case definitions for their MRSA patient safety performance measure. PICNet is hoping to align the MRSA surveillance definition with the one provided by Accreditation Canada to streamline the accreditation process for Health Authorities. Once the case definitions and minimal data set are finalized, PICNet’s Surveillance Systems Coordinator will work with the developer and Surveillance Steering Committee to develop the system’s ability to receive MRSA data from the Health Authorities.

GI Outbreak Guidelines

The GI Outbreak Guidelines are at the final stages of completion. The final draft is under review and the document will be posted the PICNet website following a review by the provincial Communicable Disease Policy Committee.

Vaccines Preventable Diseases (VPD) Working Group

The need for guidelines to manage measles exposure in health care workers has become urgent, given the current measles outbreak in British Columbia. The development of these guidelines is now repositioned under the urgent-emergent guideline development process. Once finalized, the interim guidelines will be posted on the PICNet website. The interim guidelines will then be revisited to insure thorough evidence-based processes and procedures are represented in the document. Development of similar guidance for rubella exposures will follow. Thank you to the members of this working group for your commitment to addressing this urgent issue.

Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI) Toolkit

Representatives from across the province have been meeting regularly in the last few months to develop a toolkit for the prevention and management of Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI). The toolkit will be an online collection of documents and resources that will helpful for educating patients and staff, including checklists, audit tools, care plans, and more. The toolkit will be launched on the PICNet website by the end of this month.

Upcoming Infection Prevention & Control Events

AMMI Canada – CACMID Annual Conference

Edmonton, AB

May 6-8, 2010

www.ammi.ca

CHICA-Canada 2010 Education Conference

Vancouver, BC
May 29 – June 3, 2010

www.chica.org

Contact Us

655 West 12^th Avenue

Room 2083

Vancouver, BC

V5Z 4R4 CANADA

Tel: (604) 707-2667

Email: picnet@phsa.ca

www.picnetbc.ca

Feedback?

Please contact Lucy Truong at lucy.truong@phsa.ca with your feedback and comments.

PICNet Reminders

2011 Educational Conference – Save the Date!

PICNet will not be hosting a conference in 2010, but please save April 7-8, 2011 for the next PICNet Educational Conference. Planning will begin at the end of Summer 2010. If you are interested in volunteering or being part of the planning committee, look for more information in our August 2010 newsletter.

Education Resource Fund

Thank you to all the 2010/2011 Education Resource Fund applicants. This year’s education resource fund recipients have been notified by email. Please remember to submit your entire claim using the Travel/Expense Claim Form, with your original receipts, to the PICNet office before March 31, 2011.

Project Proposals

Do you have an idea for a project or initiative? Is there an important issue that you would like PICNet to address? PICNet accepts project proposals year-round. For more information and to download the project proposal form, please visit the Forms & Feedback section of www.picnetbc.ca

Webber Training

Since February 2006 PICNet has purchased and hosted educational classes offered by Webber Training. These classes address topics of interest to infection control professionals and other health care professionals worldwide. Teleclass education is run by volunteers around the world, and on a not-for-profit basis.

For more information on the topics and faculty of the 2010 Teleclass Education lecture series please visit the Webber Training web site www.webbertraining.com. The 2010 Webber Training schedule has been posted on the PICNet website, which can be accessed through the Education & Training section. Sign-up to receive email reminders of upcoming teleclasses which include links to class slides, handouts and the local PICNet teleconference connection number by contacting us.

As a reminder, please remember to mute your line by pressing *6, to avoid disturbing the experience of others who are participating.

Upcoming Webber Teleclasses

Date	Teleclass Topic and Speaker
May 6	Disinfection and Sterilization: Special Emphasis on Pediatric Issues Dr. Bill Rutala, University of North Carolina
May 13	Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms in a Behavioral Health Setting Gail Bennett, ICP Associates
May 20	Epidemiology of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Limited Resource Regions Dr. Victor Rosenthal, Medical College of Buenos Aires, Argentina
May 31	Challenges in Reprocessing in Community Settings Gail Meara, Alberta Health Services

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