Stemming the tide of infection through applied infection prevention research at Glasgow Caledonian University
This month’s blog is by Deepti KC, a new PhD student with the SHIP research group. She is supervised by Dr. Valerie Ness, Prof. Kay Currie and Dr. Jan Smith. I vividly remember being offered a scholarship to commence a Ph.D. with the Safeguarding Health through Infection Prevention (SHIP) Research group at Glasgow Caledonian University…
By Ayodeji Matuluko Every year the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) to increase awareness of the global public health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is the ability of microorganisms to develop mechanisms that protect them against antimicrobial medicines, i.e. antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics. There has been an increase…
While it is well known that hand hygiene helps to prevent infections in both healthcare and community settings, to be effective it needs to be performed in the correct way by using the 6-step technique, recommended by the World Health Organization. For this reason, healthcare workers are taught the 6-step hand hygiene technique during their…
It was a very busy summer in our GCU microbiology and food labs this year with three undergraduate students being awarded funded summer studentships. These students joined up with Ph.D. and other postgraduate students and undertook 8-week research placements. These placements were very successful and a massive thank you to the British Mycological Society, Microbiology…
This year’s Glasgow Science Festival’s Glasgow Connects is taking place between 1st and 30th September in a hybrid format, involving a wide range of live events held at a variety of venues across Glasgow and online “Science on the Sofa” activities. The SHIP team has once again participated in this exciting event by delivering an…
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been declared one of the greatest threats to global health. Resistance occurs when a microbe mutates or acquires genetic information from another microbe, making it resistant to antibiotics. There are many contributing factors, one being antibiotic use in humans, therefore, improving antibiotic prescribing is crucial. Most available research on antimicrobial prescribing…
By Dr Claire Crossan With a Covid19 vaccine program ahead of schedule and falling ICU figures, I am sure many of us were hopeful that the worst of the pandemic had passed. But should our optimism be crushed by recent headlines focusing on the emergence of the Indian variant within the UK’s current Covid19 ‘hotspots’?…
By Alicia Ware The WHO’s Hand Hygiene Day 2021 is just around the corner. The theme this year is “Seconds save lives: clean your hands!”. It aims to promote effective hand hygiene practices/performance at the point of care by all stakeholders, including IPC practitioners, healthcare workers and facility managers, as well as patients and families.…
By Annelysse Jorgenson and Sally Stewart After a total of 22 weeks, recruitment for the SIREN study in Scotland has come to a close and the final numbers are in! Thank you to the 6277* participants in Scotland who volunteered! Recruitment for any research study always has its trials and tribulations but the hard work…
Starting a PhD during a pandemic is not an easy feat! Our latest blog is by Fiona Roche, a new PhD student. Fiona writes about her experience of starting a PhD within the SHIP team. Fiona is an Operating Department Practitioner and a former member of the lecturing team in the Department of Nursing and…