Author: Kelly Cawcutt

THINK FUNGUS – Fungal Disease Awareness Week!

Welcome to the first Fungal Disease Awareness Week sponsored by the CDC and partners! In Infectious Diseases, we truly to see lives saved by thinking about possible fungal diseases and we treat them often. Interested in learning more about Fungal Diseases? Check out the CDC video and the website here. Share the post to help the […]

Aug 15, 2017

Antimicrobial Stewardship in Long-Term Care Facilities – The Time is Now!

Antibiotic use is common in long-term care facilities (LTCF) with 70% residents receiving at least one course of systemic antibiotic every year. A significant proportion of the antibiotic use (40% to 75%) in nursing homes has been found to be unnecessary or inappropriate. The prevalence of multi-drug resistant organisms and C. difficile infections are already […]

Aug 14, 2017

Pharmacist-Driven Intervention Improves Care of Patients with Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality.  Previous studies have shown Infectious Diseases (ID) consultation for patients with SAB optimizes care and reduces mortality.  A recent study highlights outcomes of a pharmacist-driven intervention to encourage adherence to SAB quality-of-care measures and ID consultation in an Ohio medical center.  The study investigators found that these interventions significantly increased compliance to SAB quality-of-care measures from […]

Aug 11, 2017

Microbiology and Infectious Diseases – The Ghostbusters of Medicine

  Medicine is a team sport, there is no denying that, but together the Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases(ID) specialists create a powerhouse of for diagnosis and treatment. Detect, Identify and Destroy. Infectious Disease physicians are called in to start the investigation – does the patient have an infection? What do we think is the most […]

Aug 7, 2017

Dr. Sue Swindells on “Why I Love ID”

Dr. Sue Swindells on “Why I Love ID”:  “So, I found myself in a fancy maternity hospital in San Francisco not too long ago, while my daughter was having a baby.  The nurses there were very excited to have an Infectious Diseases doctor in the room.  I had thought they might be a bit nervous […]

Aug 3, 2017

Lisa Hill, NP on “Why I Love ID”

Lisa Hill, Nurse Practitioner with Transplant Infectious Diseases on “Why I Love ID” “ID is like a puzzle. You are looking at each piece trying to see how it fits in the big picture.  Sometimes the edges are clear and sometimes pieces are missing. It is our job to look at all the details to […]

Jul 24, 2017

Hope is Not a Plan – Preparing for Public Health Emergencies.

Dr. Hewlett presented her talk “Hope is Not a Plan” for the SHEA/CDC Outbreak Response Training Workshop(ORTP) in Philadelphia in June. The workshop was geared towards Hospital Epidemiologists and focused on hospital preparedness for public health emergencies. Dr. Hewlett specifically spoke on key steps in preparing for a high-consequence pathogen infection, travel and screening tools […]

Jul 21, 2017

Dr. Alison Freifeld on “Why I Love ID”

Dr. Freifeld on “Why I Love ID”:  “My 30+ year career in managing infections in the most vulnerable immunosuppressed cancer patients has been an incredible journey and one I would choose again! Infectious complications in this population are often complex and life-threatening, but work of diagnosing and managing those problems (and often there are multiple […]

Jul 17, 2017

Courage and Heroism in the Face of Ebola – Dr. Martin Salia Honored at Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. Martin Salia was a healthcare hero in his native Sierra Leone. He strove to provide excellent, quality healthcare to patients in Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, as the Ebola epidemic continued to spread. It was during his selfless determination to care for his patients, that Salia contracted the Ebola virus. He was […]

Jul 14, 2017

Interested in Common Infections in the Elderly? Listen and Learn at UNMC!

Common Infections in the Elderly July 13, 2017 Location: UNMC Eppley Science Hall – Amphitheater In this presentation, Dr. Muhammad Salman Ashraf, Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine – Infectious Diseases, will discuss why older adults are at increased risk of infections. He will also identify common infections in the elderly and present management issues […]

Jul 12, 2017