Infection Prevention Across the Construction Continuum: The Need for Planning for Renovation and Maintenance
Marge McFarlane, PhD, MT (ASCP), CHFM, CJCP, CHSP, HEM, MEP, brings over 40 years of comprehensive experience in the environment of care, life safety, emergency management and infection prevention for construction. McFarlane has authored handbooks on the GHS update to the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard and OSHA training for Medical Facilities. She is a frequent presenter for seminars, regional conferences, and audio conferences on OSHA topics, bloodborne pathogens, infection prevention, hazardous materials/RCRA waste streams and emergency management. She is currently working with healthcare systems and clinics nationally to identify and mitigate risks in the physical environment.
McFarlane holds a PhD in Safety Engineering and masters’ degrees in Environmental and Public Health (ENPH) from the UW – Eau Claire and Risk Control from the UW–Stout. She is a member of the Wisconsin Healthcare Engineering Association (WHEA) Code Committee, the American Society of Healthcare Engineers (ASHE) and the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS). She is a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner and has served as a healthcare subject matter expert for regional, state and national exercises.
Healthcare facilities continue to undergo a transformation as service lines and patient populations change. Construction, renovation, and maintenance of facilities provide legal, regulatory, business and ethical responsibilities to design, construct and maintain a safe environment for patients, their family, staff, and practitioners. An infection prevention risk assessment document provides guidelines for minimum standards for healthcare facility design and construction. Included in the updated Guidelines are recommendations for space requirements, accessibility, fire protection, medical gases, lighting, safe patient handling assessments and noise abatement as well as infection prevention practices, among others.
While an infection control risk assessment (ICRA) process has been considered standard practice in healthcare construction over the past decade, the 2014 Facilities Guidelines underscore the need for a multidisciplinary team including Infection Preventionists in the design phase as well as the mitigation, construction, and post-construction phases.
Areas Covered
- Identify increased risks of patients to infection
- Describe the role of the Infection Preventionists
- Define terminology related to healthcare construction, maintenance, and renovation
- Review the requirements for implementing ICRA/PCRA assessments
Course Level- Intermediate
Who Should Attend
- Facility Directors
- Construction Managers
- Accreditation Specialists
- Infection Preventionists
- Senior Leadership
Healthcare facilities provide services for an increasing number of patients with compromised immune systems. Renovation, as well as general maintenance activities, can pose an infection control risk for this population. This session will review the evolution of the ICRA process and participants will identify projects that require an infection prevention risk assessment as well as the level of protection needed.
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