Check Out Washington State Department of Health’s Project Firstline Podcast!

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Healthcare workers, looking for your next informative – and entertaining – infection control resource?!

Look no further, the Washington State Department of Health’s Project Firstline Podcast covers a variety of infection control topics, from healthcare-associated infections to multi-drug-resistant organisms.

The podcast is part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Project Firstline, which provides all healthcare workers the infection control training and resources they need to protect themselves, their patients, and their coworkers from infectious diseases.

With 17 episodes to choose from, you’ll be sure to learn something new.

Let’s dive in!

A Glimpse at the Episodes

Dating back to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opening episodes of the Washington State Department of Health’s Project Firstline Podcast focuses on the foundations of infection control, including how to prevent healthcare-associated infections, how to properly wear, put on, and remove personal protective equipment (PPE), and effective hand hygiene.

Other episodes cover infection control practices in various healthcare settings, including skilled nursing facilities; hospitals; and dentistry, dialysis, and oncology settings.

The rise of antimicrobial-resistant organisms and how to prevent them is a reoccurring theme throughout the podcast series.

Antimicrobial resistance is considered an urgent global public health threat that is especially relevant to infection control.

“Antibiotic resistance is on the rise,” Jessica Zering, an Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist at the Washington State Department of Health, explained in episode 16 of the podcast. “The bacteria that cause common infections, such as pneumonia and urinary tract infections, are starting to outsmart our current antibiotics. When bacteria become resistant to the antibiotics used to treat them, those antibiotics are no longer effective.

“This means that we may have to use antibiotics that may be less effective, more expensive, or have more side effects. It also means that there may not be an antibiotic available at all to treat the infection.”

Thus, good infection control is something that every healthcare worker can do.

Keeping resistant germs from spreading in healthcare and playing an important and valuable part in fighting the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Find an episode that interests you and listen to the podcast!

• Healthcare Associated Infections
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Hand Hygiene
• Multidrug Resistant Organisms (MDROs)
• Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing Facilities
• Hospital Settings
• Candida auris (C. auris)
• Respiratory Protection
• Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs)
• Dental Settings
• Dialysis Settings
• Environmental Health in Healthcare Settings
• Surveillance in Public Health and Healthcare
• Oncology Settings
• Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Mini-Series: Introduction
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Mini-Series: Penicillin Allergies

Learn more about Washington State Department of Health’s Project Firstline Projects!

What Can You Do to Promote Infection Control in Your Healthcare Setting?

Help keep yourself, your colleagues, and your patients safe from infectious disease threats by building on your infection control knowledge!

To show your dedication, sign this pledge to complete an infection control training or activity through CDC’s Project Firstline!

pLedge to take the training!

You can also share infection control training opportunities with healthcare colleagues via LinkedIn with our Project Firstline social media toolkit.

use the toolkit!

You can access more information about infection prevention and control in healthcare by visiting resources from CDC Project Firstline.

Going on its fourth year and made up of a diverse group of more than 80 health partners, Project Firstline aims to provide all healthcare workers with the infection control training and resources they need to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio is working with the National Hispanic Medical Association to bring Project Firstline infection control educational content to healthcare workers, so they are equipped with the knowledge they need to protect themselves, their facilities, and their patients (Latinos and all communities) from infectious disease threats in healthcare settings.

Check out some of the articles from this partnership:

• What is Project Firstline?
• What is the Goal of Infection Prevention and Control in Healthcare Settings?
• What’s a Virus?
• What is Ventilation and Why Does It Matter?
• Contact Time: What is It and How Does it Impact Infection Control?
• The Surprising Difference Between Cleaning and Disinfection
• What’s a Respiratory Droplet and Why Does It Matter?
• We Need to Talk about Hand Hygiene Again
• Why are Gowns, Gloves, and Eye Protection Recommended for COVID-19?

Check out some of the Latino healthcare workers who are heroes for infection control:

• Dr. Jorge Moreno: Infection Control Hero for Spanish-Speaking Latinos and All Patients
• Dr. Trinidad Solis: Harvesting Infection Control Solutions for Farmworkers
• Dr. Marlene Martin: Collaborating with Promotoras in Sustainable Infection Control Efforts

Learn More about Project Firstline!

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a collaboration between Salud America!, the National Hispanic Medical Association, and the CDC’s Project Firstline. To find resources training materials, and other tools to bolster knowledge and practice of infection control, visit Project Firstline and view Salud America!’s infection control content.