UPCOMING SUBGROUP MEETINGS
The 4th and 5th of February Clean Hospitals has the pleasure organizing face to face subgroup meetings at Amsterdam RAI. A warm thank you to Interclean our Clean Hospitals collaborating partner, for hosting us.
The Transposable Model, Mapping & Guidelines and Fake News subgroup members will sit around the table to achieve the same objectives: improving hospital environmental hygiene. Brainstorming, discussing, implementing and proactive exchanges will be numerous in order to see the 2020 aims achieved.
Learn more about the subgroups that will be held in Amsterdam:
- Transposable Model
We are creating a scalable and adaptable model for hospital environmental hygiene that hospitals can implement across institutions, resource levels, and geographic regions. In the medium term, we will create a self- assessment framework (much like the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework) that will help institutions better understand the state of environmental hygiene in their hospitals, and recommendations for improving it. Key variables will be identified and a model created to help hospitals decide how to best use their available budget so it has the biggest impact considering the particularities and challenges of that particular hospital.
- Mapping and Guidelines
We are analyzing the topography of existing guidelines that institutions and companies currently use, and see where there are gaps or where evidence is conflictual or too prescriptive or too vague. The output of this group will be recommendations for specific issues and/or a position paper. Currently, an online tool has been developed that allows users to analyze a research question using the pertinent guidelines, and identify issues concerning that particular question. The information is then extracted to an excel table, and a summary report can subsequently be prepared.
- Fake News & Misinformation
Misinformation is becoming an increasingly grave threat to IPC and in patient safety. There are many products, practices, and recommendations on the market that are not evidence-based, and some which are dangerous. In some publications, the science is good, but taken out of context which can manipulate public opinion. The current scientific publishing model and the rise of predatory journals complicate an already complex issue by making it difficult for people to access quality information. There is a lot of interest in the fallout of fake news on the EU level, and it could be a possible goal of the group to try to build a future collaboration on this level. We are developing a protocol for the scientific community to analyse, categorize, and respond to fake news in an organized way. The first version of the protocol and reporting template have been done, but they still need to be tested and validated.
The Clean Hospitals team is looking forward to a successful collaboration time with our members and collaborating partners.
If you want further information about Clean Hospitals and the projects we are leading, feel free to contact us.
