Podcast
Infection Control Matters
Hosted by Brett Mitchell · EN
We are a group of professionals who work in the field of infectious disease and infection prevention and control. In this podcast series, we discuss new research and issues on the topic of infection prevention and control.
We will pick new papers of interest and will discuss them, often with an author of the paper who can give us some insights into the research that go beyond the written paper. We are unfunded and do not accept solicitations from companies or marketeers.
Authors will include nurses, doctors, academics, clinicians, administrators and leaders.
We should stress that all of our comments relate to our own opinions and that they do not necessarily reflect those institutions and employers that we relate to.
We welcome comment, suggestions and ideas. Please consider subscribing for updates and to find collections of topic specific podcasts at www.infectioncontrolmatters.com
16episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Surfaces - High touch or high risk?
Mar 1800:13:38Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Martin and Brett talk about what is a high risk and what is a high touch surface. Are they the same? The discussion is based on the following paper: Zheng et al (2025). “High-touch” surfaces are not always “high-risk” surfaces in ICU environment. Journal of hospital infection. https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(26)00079-4/fulltext
Transcribe →Do we feel that we are experts? Take two
Feb 2500:19:16Tap to summarizeBack in July 2022 when the world was opening up again Brett, Phil and Martin were all in Melbourne and met up for a chat. The topic was 'Are we experts', however due to incompetence (Martin) the recording was terrible and his rather poor editing skills (learnt entirely by watching YouTube videos from Mike Russell) didn't help much. Now however by using Adobe AI voice enhancement it has been possible to rescuscitate the recording, and we felt that it was worth a reissue.
Transcribe →Resourcing of hospital infection prevention and control programs
Feb 1100:24:59Tap to summarizeIn this podcast, Phil and Brett speak with Dr Lyn-Li Lim from VICNISS (Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance System)in Australia. Dr Lim and colleagues recently explored the infection prevention and control resourcing levels in 113 facilities, including FTE per 100 beds. This podcast explores the differences in resourcing for different categories of hospitals. A link to the publication is here. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019665532500570X
Transcribe →Hospital or Crime Scene? What Forensic Science Reveals About “Clean”
Jan 2800:27:10Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Sarah Fieldhouse, Associate Professor of Forensic Science and Dr Emmanuel Babafemi, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences both of the University of Staffordshire, UK. We discuss a recent paper looking at hospital cleanliness. Using forensic light, the study uncovered invisible contamination on surfaces that looked clean to the naked eye. We discuss what fluorescence reveals, what ATP misses, and how this approach could reshape environmental monitoring in healthcare. The open access paper is available here: Fieldhouse S, Bastaki BB, Ledgerton A, Clarke P, Lewis T. Assessing the effectiveness of hospital cleaning using fluorescence: a proof-of-concept study and comparison with ATP testing. J Hosp Infect 2025;166:38-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2025.08.008. https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0195-6701%2825%2900267-1
Transcribe →AMR at a National level - The 2025 ESPAUR Report
Jan 1400:56:10Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Martin talks to Dr Diane Ashiru-Oredope and colleagues at the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) about the 2025 ESPAUR report, focusing on what the latest data mean for clinicians, infection prevention teams, and health system leaders. We explore what the latest data reveal about antimicrobial resistance and prescribing trends in England, including changes in resistance patterns among major bacterial pathogens and what this means for patient safety and clinical outcomes. We discuss what’s improving, where challenges remain, and how infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship teams can use national surveillance data to drive meaningful local action. You can download the report in it's entirety here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6936ac34b612700b2cb73607/ESPAUR-report-2024-to-2025.pdf There is also a supplement and summary in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy which can be accessed here: https://academic.oup.com/jacamr/issue/8/Supplement_2 The TARGET antibiotics toolkit hub is abailable here: https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=553 e-Bug is available here: https://www.e-bug.eu/
Transcribe →2025 Christmas Special
Dec 1700:48:19Tap to summarizeThis is our traditional end of year Christmas special. In this episode we consider highlights from year and have a bit of fun - including a stakeout in London. We talk about our views on the most significant systematic review, our favourite presentation/poster, RCTs would like to see and predictions for 2026.
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