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 take the best care of each person and their family. No two days or situations are the same. I love the variety.”
See more about UNMC ID here.
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 for locations and risks, multi-drug resistant organisms and the facilitators/barriers for preparing for emerging infections.
If you would like to learn more, there is addition online training available and listings for future workshops here.
Content courtesy of Dr. Hewlett.
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 infectious problems involving viral, fungal and/or bacterial pathogens) is both challenging and rewarding because it so often allows patients to continue their cancer treatments despite these complicating infections. I especially love working in concert with a wonderful team of oncologists and other practitioners in the field to provide the best patient care and to improve the lives of people living with cancer. ”
See more about Dr. Freifeld and the rest of the UNMC ID division here.
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 evacuated and arrived at the Nebraska Biocontaminent Unit, but despite aggressive efforts, he died less than 2 days after his arrival.
On July 12th, Dr. Salia’s wife, children, friends and medical staff gathered to honor him. A plaque now hangs in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit in honor of Dr. Salia. His wife was also present with a brick engraved with ” In honor of Dr. Martin Salia, courage and heroism” that will placed in the pathway of the healing gardens at the hospital.
To see more about Dr. Salia and the celebration of his life and sacrifice, please see:
http://www.omaha.com/livewellnebraska/doctor-who-died-in-ebola-outbreak-honored-for-courage-and/article_2fd0b072-6764-11e7-9279-3b51085ec9ab.html
http://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/unmc-honors-doctor-who-died-from-ebola-virus
For more about the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, click here.
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 related to these infections.
**No need to pre-register. Registration will be available on-site. Also available via live video stream.
HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is the strategy of administering antiretrovirals to HIV uninfected, at-risk individuals in order to prevent HIV infection. Tenofovir-emtricitabine (Truvada) was approved for HIV PrEP by the FDA in 2012 and is over 90% effective in preventing HIV infection when taken as directed.
UNMC’s HIV clinic has been offering HIV PrEP for a few years and demand is steadily increasing, but patients often arrive too late. Recently, we saw a patient with newly diagnosed HIV who had unsuccessfully tried to obtain PrEP from his primary care provider just months before his diagnosis.
Although no single intervention is going to end the HIV epidemic, we have a chance at changing the course of the epidemic and significantly reducing the number of new HIV infections with PrEP.
Providers from UNMC’s HIV team are eager to teach others how to prescribe and monitor patients on PrEP and partnered with University of Nebraska Omaha, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and the Nebraska AIDS Project to provide educational seminars across the state in the months of May and June.
Did you miss the seminars? Find additional resource to learn about PrEP here and here. Look for mini modules to update your HIV knowledge in general? Try these!
Content courtesy of Dr. Bares and Sara Weber. Learn more about the UNMC HIV clinic here.
Dr. Ashraf on “Why I Love ID”
“I love the sense of satisfaction that practicing in the field of infectious diseases provides to me. This is a specialty where we are able to prevent and/or cure most of the diseases. In my opinion, investigating a case of infectious disease like a detective, looking at all possible scenarios and using available evidence to find out the real cause of the disease and then being able to cure it is the most satisfying experience any physician can ever get. Similarly, applying the knowledge of infectious diseases to prevent an infection from spreading from one person to another or around the globe is an equally satisfying experience to me. I can be part of all of that because I chose to be an infectious diseases physician.”
See more about the UNMC ID division here.
According to the CDC, each year in the US, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die as a direct result of these infections. Inappropriate antibiotic use is an important driver for development of drug resistant bacteria. Antibiotic misuse is prevalent in all health care settings including acute care hospitals, outpatient centers and long-term care facilities. Studies have found that 40% to 75% of antibiotic use may be inappropriate or unnecessary in the nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is now requiring all long-term care facilities to develop an antimicrobial stewardship program to promote appropriate antibiotic use in these facilities.
This year at the annual meeting of AMDA-The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, a 90-minute session was dedicated to help the medical directors, other clinical practitioners, and nursing home administrators in developing an antimicrobial stewardship program in their facilities.
Dr. Muhammad Salman Ashraf, who is an associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center along with other colleagues from AMDA infection advisory committee reviewed the effectiveness of various previous and current nursing home antimicrobial stewardship programs. They introduced the attendees to the available resources and tools (link to CDC website here) that can be utilized to develop such a program and provided important tips to implement those tools. Approximately 300 or more attendees joined this session, which was very well received. Dr. Ashraf feels very optimistic about reduction of antibiotic misuse in the post-acute and long-term care facilities after looking at the positive attitude of the attendees towards tackling this problem.
Content Courtesy of Dr. Ashraf.
Today is Dr. Randy Fowler’s last day as a fellow in the clinical microbiology laboratory. His new position will be with the CDC as a laboratory leadership fellow. Although the fellowship is managed by the CDC, Dr. Fowler will work at the Minnesota Public Health Laboratory where he will be focusing on national Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriacae (CRE) surveillance.
We would all like to extend our sincere gratitude for all of his work and support during his time here! If you see Dr. Fowler, please extend your thanks and well wishes today!
See more about Dr. Fowler and the Clinical Microbiology Fellowship here.
As June comes to a close, we are celebrating the graduation of Dr. Majorant from our Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program. We wish are all the best as she goes forward into her new position at Providence Medford Medical Center in Oregon! Congratulations Dr. Majorant!
Photograph courtesy of Dr. Rupp.
Recent Comments