PDI International hosts CPD-accredited air decontamination seminar

PDI International will host a free CPD-accredited webinar for IPC professionals, facilities and estates to highlight why effective air decontamination is crucial to protect the health of both healthcare workers and patients in hospitals and support staff in implementing best practices.

Carole Hallam, Independent Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Consultant, will present on the importance of indoor air quality in healthcare environments and how the use of innovative technologies can be leveraged to help to tackle the risk of airborne infection.

The topic is becoming increasingly important in the face of the covid-19 pandemic and the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday March 1 at 10:30am (GMT).

Titled ‘When Hand Hygiene and Cleaning are not enough; is it time to talk about Air Decontamination?’, the webinar aims to provide education and support to IPC and professionals on how to take the best approach to mitigate the spread of airborne infections.

It will also expore why maintaining good levels or air quality needs to be part of any effective infection control and prevention programme.

Carole Hallam, who will be leading the session, said:

“While hand hygiene is known to be one of the most important ways of controlling the spread of infections, air decontamination is also crucial in any hospital environment because the air can be a route of a variety of important disease-causing pathogens, without any clear signs.

“If not effectively filtered, it may cause a risk to the lives of staff and patients, especially those who are immunocompromised.

“Healthcare staff meticulously cleaning the premises clearly goes a long way to mitigating the risk of infection to anyone who steps foot in a hospital; however, it only goes so far.”

Infection control is a major challenge to healthcare professionals worldwide, with over four million people are affected by hospital acquired infections (HAIs) every year across Europe.

It is estimated that over half of all HAIs are preventable and could be eliminated through evidence-based infection prevention and control strategies.

HAIs are estimated to cost the UK’s NHS approximately £1 billion a year.

Airborne transmission is more common in healthcare settings due to overburdened hospitals and the presence of immunocompromised patients.

Hallam added:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significance of having solid IPC procedures in place.

“Our webinar will highlight some of the important challenges that experienced IPC professionals face and how to best overcome these issues.”

Free registration and more information on PDI’s upcoming webinar are available here.