This module will assess the impact of healthcare-associated infection from bedside to bench. The module will explore the changing epidemiology of healthcare-associated infection and the associated expression, emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The role of the laboratory in infection control and outbreak investigation and the detection, monitoring and control of multidrug resistance will also be reviewed.
Lecture Programme
Healthcare-Associated infection: incidence, transmission, clinical significance, changing epidemiology, association with community/livestock-acquired infection of common healthcare-associated pathogens including MRSA, VRE, ESBL+ GNB, CRE, Clostridium difficile and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Surveillance: mandatory enhanced and voluntary surveillance data collating surveillance data and reports
Screening- screening polices, horizontal/vertical, patients, staff and the health care environment, culture vs molecular methods,
Molecular epidemiological typing methods- principles and applications of PFGE, MLST, MLVA and WGS
Antimicrobial resistance: acquisition, mechanism, expression, prevalence, global and national trends
Multi-drug resistance: emergence and spread of multi-, extensive- and pan-drug resistant clonal complexes –ST22-MRSA-IV. E. faecium CC-17, E coli ST 131, MDR K. pneumoniae CC 258, C. difficile 027, C. difficile 078 A. baumannii CC 92,
Resistance detection and monitoring: applications and limitations of phenotypic and genotypic resistance detection methods, EARS-Net surveillance, EUCAST-MIC distributions and ECOFFS
Prevention and control strategies: new antimicrobial development, antimicrobial stewardship, surveillance
Lectures: 12 hours; Workshops 8; and Presentations; 5 hours
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Formal Examination | 60 |
| Other Assessment(s) | 40 |