March 3-4: Healthcare Surfaces Institute Annual Summit & Workshop in Houston, TX

Brought to you in collaboration by the Healthcare Surfaces Institute and Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health – a NIOSH Education and Research Center at UTHealth School of Public Health.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020 – Wednesday, March 4, 2020 in Houston, TX

The healthcare setting is exceptionally dynamic, often unpredictable, and real-life scenarios must be understood as do the challenges faced by professionals in the field. The science behind the role of surfaces in the transmission of pathogens that cause deadly infections in the healthcare setting is virtually overlooked. There is a pressing need for education and research for the evaluation of surface materials and products as assemblies, to validate they can be efficiently and effectively cleaned, disinfected, and sterilized.

The Healthcare Surfaces Institute (HSI) is a cutting-edge collaboration between organizations and professionals working to mitigate the spread of healthcare-associated infections with a focus on surfaces. The HSI Annual Summit & Workshoputilizes a think tank discussion format. All participants are part of the discussion and development of programs.

This event is open to all healthcare practitioners, and not just those donors of the Healthcare Surface Institute!  We welcome you to join in the discussion as your expertise and voice need to be heard so we can develop guidelines and tools that will address the issues and challenges of product and environmental design, and potentially reduce the burden on healthcare professionals. These issues include, and are not limited to; surface disinfection, sterilization, surface compatibility, infection prevention processes, protocols, and the confusion of instructions for use (IFU’s).

Healthcare practitioners in the following practice areas are invited and encouraged to participate:

• Biomedical Engineering

• Human Factors & Performance

• Patient Safety Professionals

• Emergency Medicine

• Infection Control Professionals

• Public Health Professionals

• Ergonomics

• Infection Preventionists

• Safety and EHS

• Healthcare Design & Systems

• Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Exposure Science

• OR Professionals

• Healthcare Material Sciences

• Nursing

Event Location: The Denton A. Cooley, MD and Ralph C. Cooley, DDS University Life Center, 7440 Cambridge St, Houston, TX 77054

The “Cooley Center” is located in the Texas Medical Center in UTHealth’s South Campus Research Park Complex, adjacent to the Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences Building and the UTHealth School of Dentistry.

CME, CNE & CEUs are pending. Determination of Continuing Medical Education (CME) & Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) credit is pending. This workshop may be eligible for CEUs in the following disciplines: Industrial Hygiene, Infection Prevention, Quality Assurance & Control, Safety & EHS, Certified Public Health Professionals and others!