The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s Project Firstline program offers training and educational resources on various infection control topics, including risk recognition and infection control basics related to COVID-19. These training and educational resources are designed for all healthcare workers, no matter their role or educational background. Join us as Salud America! explores Project Firstline’s interactive infection control resources for healthcare workers through a three-part series on, “What’s Wrong with This Picture?” Today we will tackle the emergency room. Part 2 will address the nurse’s station. Part 3 will focus on an outpatient exam room.
Can You Recognize Infection Control Risks?
Healthcare workers must be aware of ...
The coronavirus, COVID-19, can affect anyone. But reports show Latinos and other people of color are disproportionately affected, amid worsening historical inequities. What are the data really showing? UPDATE 4/27/23: New U.S., state, and city data!
COVID-19 Case Rates for Latinos
The U.S. population recently rose to 18.9% Latino. Coronavirus is disproportionately sickening Latinos. Variants like Delta and Omicron sparked case surges, too. Latinos currently comprise 24.3% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, second only to Whites (53.8%), according to CDC data on health equity and cases on April 19, 2023. Race/ethnicity data is available for 66% of the nation's cases. COVID-19-associated hospitalizations also have been higher among Latinos. Several states are ...
Knowing where germs live and thrive is important for infection control in healthcare. When you understand where germs live and how they can spread from place to place and make people sick, the infection control actions you take to keep them from spreading become second nature.
How Do Germs Spread?
Germs must be moved from person to person, place to place, or between places and people for them to potentially get someone sick. When you’re thinking about the risk for germs to spread in healthcare, the first step is to think through where germs live. A “reservoir” is a place where germs live and thrive. Like a habitat. Reservoirs can be in the human body – the skin, the gastrointestinal system, the respiratory system, including the nose, throat, and lungs, and the ...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Project Firstline has expanded its Spanish translation of infection control resources. This content follows the prior Spanish release of Project Firstline’s Facilitator Toolkit with training session plans and accompanying PowerPoint slides, designed to help healthcare workers with different learning styles and busy schedules facilitate infection control trainings.
What’s Included in The New Spanish-Language Resources?
Spanish-speaking healthcare professionals can now access a variety of educational materials on infection control, including additional training toolkits on several topics: Introduction to Reservoirs: Where Microbes Live
Risk Identification Using Reservoirs Printable materials and job aids on ...
Latino and Black patients on dialysis have higher rates of staph bloodstream infections, according to a new CDC report. Dialysis is a treatment for people whose kidneys are failing. “More than half of people in the U.S. receiving dialysis belong to a racial or ethnic minority group—about 1 in every 3 people receiving dialysis is Black and 1 in every 5 is Hispanic,” according to the CDC. Latino dialysis patients alone had a 40% higher risk of staph bloodstream infections than White patients on dialysis between 2017 and 2020. Let’s further explore the health disparities that impact dialysis patients.
Risks of Dialysis Treatment
While dialysis treatments are necessary and could ultimately save the life of patients with end-stage kidney disease, it does come with ...
Germs are everywhere, including in dirt and dust! When we think of dirt in our daily lives, we usually think of potted plants and gardens. When we think of dust, we think of the kind that we clean in our house and workplaces. But fine dust can also be present at construction and maintenance projects inside a building, like taking out parts of a wall or renovating a room. Also, when construction and maintenance projects that move a lot of dirt and dust around happen in or near a healthcare facility, it can send germs that are in the dirt and dust into the air. These germs can harm certain patients with weakened immune systems.
What Kind of Germs Are in Dirt and Dust?
Dirt and dust contain many germs, including a fungus called Aspergillus. Aspergillus and other fungi ...
We know you are a healthcare worker who cares about infection control. That’s why we urge you to use your platform – LinkedIn – to ask your fellow doctors, nurses, or other healthcare staff to take an infection control module from Project Firstline, a training and education collaborative designed by the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Just follow these easy steps:
1. See Why You Should Share!
Read up on Project Firstline and why you should share.
2 Choose a Message to Share! Do you know the latest in infection control action? Earn CE credit and refresh your knowledge on infection control through a variety of short, easy-to-understand modules and activities by CDC’s Project Firstline. #saludfirstline salud.to/CEcredits
Friends, are you ...
In the small rural Central California town of Selma, a young Trinidad Solis watched long stretches of farmland float by through the car window. She listened to her parents in the front seat discuss their upcoming doctor’s appointment in Spanish. As Mexican immigrant farmworkers, Solis’ parents faced hardships accessing healthcare, including a language barrier. Since her parents were monolingual Spanish-speakers, Solis often served as translator during her parents’ health appointments and helped them navigate the complex healthcare system. These childhood interactions spurred Solis’ desire to become a bilingual, culturally sensitive family physician who could provide healthcare, including infection prevention and control services, to vulnerable patients like her ...
In a modest house in Los Angeles, California, a young girl buried her nose in a book. She focused on the book’s colorful graphics of doctors helping sick patients. Closing her eyes, she pictured herself in this role. Her mother’s words echoed in her mind, “Education is the key to opening doors in life.” The young girl wasn’t sure how, but she decided she was going to go to medical school, and she was going to become a doctor. Decades later, the young girl — now a grown woman – has a successful career in medicine. Dr. Marlene Martin is an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a hospitalist at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). In these roles, Marlene combines her passion for clinical care ...
