Friday, October 11, 2024

 

UTA professor earns NSF grants to study human-computer interaction



Grants aim to enhance the lives of the visually impaired and those with ADHD



University of Texas at Arlington

Fillia Makedon, a Distinguished Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, 

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A portrait of Fillia Makedon, a Distinguished Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington.

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Credit: The University of Texas at Arlington




Fillia Makedon, a Distinguished Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been awarded two new National Science Foundation (NSF) grants involving human-computer interaction. In one, she will study extended reality to assess attention levels in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD); in the other, she will look at how human-robot interaction could help visually impaired persons perform job duties remotely from home using telerobotic technologies.

The NSF awarded Dr. Makedon $440,758 through its Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research program, which supports work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative research ideas or approaches.

In the first project, Makedon will apply extended reality (XR) technology to assess attention deficit and other cognitive functions, with a goal of creating standardized, yet adaptable, virtual scenarios to provide more accurate and comprehensive cognitive profiles to support traditional assessments. This could be especially helpful for underserved populations and people in remote areas without easy access to professional services.

XR is a combination of real and virtual environments—in this case, virtual reality and mixed reality—which creates an immersive environment that can present a variety of tasks, guided by an avatar, that adapt based on real-time performance data. Results with XR are more accurate than current traditional observation methods, leading to better and reproducible assessments of cognition.

“Extended reality will allow us to record not just how a person responds to questions or tasks verbally, but how they respond physically,” Makedon said. “When their actions are slow or they don’t respond, that’s a good indication that they’ve lost focus. Virtual reality is easy to use, more reproducible and adaptive to situations. Beyond just diagnosing attention deficit disorders, this method could also be used for training to enhance attention.”

For the second project, Makedon is teaming up with Nick Gans, a principal research scientist and head of the Autonomation and Intelligent Systems Division at the UTA Research Institute, and Austin Lighthouse, a warehouse that employs and trains visually impaired and blind people. Together, they will explore the potential for people who are visually impaired to use telerobots to carry out physical tasks remotely. (With the telerobots, the human operator can receive sensor feedback and is in control of navigation and control.)

This would solve one of the barriers to employment for people who are visually impaired or blind: commuting to their workplace. Another work barrier is resistance by employers to hire visually impaired or blind people due to fears of liability if the employee is injured on the job.

Telerobotics could remove these barriers by allowing blind or visually impaired employees to work from home. Makedon and Gans will work with Austin Lighthouse staff to identify specific problems associated with telerobotic training and design an interface that can be used to safely and accurately train employees to use the technology. Their research will also provide an understanding of how visually impaired people perform physical tasks. Outcomes of this study may also impact persons with other types of disabilities who need to work from home.

“It is often difficult for people who are blind or visually impaired to commute to work, so it is important for us to find out if they can be productive from home and keep their jobs through telerobotics,” Makedon said. “Austin Lighthouse is very interested in exploring the use of robots to help their employees be successful. This could also be beneficial for the subjects, because the ability to obtain and keep a job could help ease feelings of isolation and frustration.”

These projects are the latest in a string of research by Makedon focused on improving lives through human-computer and human-robot interactions. She is the director of the Human-Centered Computing Lab and of the Motion Capture Lab at UTA, both of which focus on the use of assistive technologies to enhance human performance and improve quality of life.

These two new grants relate to another ongoing NSF grant from the Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering (DARE) program that focuses on educating people with mobility and spinal issues on how to interact with intelligent robots to achieve daily tasks, such as cooking or preparing to leave the house. For this study, Makedon is working with members of the Movin’ Mavs, UTA’s wheelchair basketball team.

About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)

Located in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, The University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive teaching, research, and public service institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through scholarship and creative work. With an enrollment of approximately 41,000 students, UT Arlington is the second-largest institution in the UT System. UTA’s combination of outstanding academics and innovative research contributes to its designation as a Carnegie R-1 “Very High Research Activity” institution, a significant milestone of excellence. The University is designated as a Hispanic Serving-Institution and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education and has earned the Seal of Excelencia for its commitment to accelerating Latino student success. The University ranks as the No. 1 national public university in the U.S. for veterans (Military Times, 2024), No. 4 in Texas for advancing social mobility (U.S. News & World Report, 2025), and No. 6 in the United States for its undergraduate ethnic diversity (U.S. News & World Report, 2025). UT Arlington’s approximately 270,000 alumni occupy leadership positions at many of the 21 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in North Texas and contribute to the University’s $28.8 billion annual economic impact on Texas.


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Largest study of its kind in Africa finds African men have high risk of prostate cancer, earlier



Researchers including those from Wits have identified the genetic risk factors that contribute to prostate cancer in a diverse group of African men. Although research and treatment are scant, this first large-scale African genomics study could signal new



University of the Witwatersrand




Researchers including those from Wits have identified the genetic risk factors that contribute to prostate cancer in a diverse group of African men.

Although research and treatment are scant, this first large-scale African genomics study could signal new treatment possibilities.

“From the literature, men of African descent have a much higher risk of developing prostate cancer during their lifetime. It tends to develop at an earlier age and is more aggressive. But we have only really studied prostate cancer in European populations. By studying genetic risk factors in African men – at a large scale - we can one day refine screening and treatment,” says Dr Carl Chen, a researcher at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Biosciences (SBIMB) at Wits University and the second author of the paper.

About the study

The study, titled Heterogenous genetic architecture of prostate cancer susceptibility in sub-Saharan Africa, published in the high impact Nature Genetics journal, enrolled almost 8000 African men (half had prostate cancer, and the other comprised a control group) from five African countries across West, East and Southern Africa.

This is the largest study of this kind to date.

Chen says, “We identified three loci, or genetic regions, strongly associated with increased prostate incidence. The top ‘signals’ within these three loci are unique to African populations and would not have been found if we didn’t study African populations."

Notably, regional differences exist in the strength of the ‘signals’ between East, West and Southern Africa.

This means that there are different types of risks across Africa.

Professor Michèle Ramsay, Director of the SBIMB, says, “The findings from this study will lay the foundation to develop models for risk prediction using genetic data to improve the treatment of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer screening is virtually non-existent in Africa, allowing for the study of the natural history and genetic associations of prostate cancer in the absence of early detection."

Ramsay says that the paper also aligns with SBIMB’s strategic vision for Precision Medicine by working to better understand the molecular risk factors of common African cancers.

“We aim to uncover region-specific genetic mutations and variations, leading to more accurate, culturally relevant treatments that address the unique genetic diversity of African populations, ultimately improving cancer care and outcomes across the continent," says Ramsay.

To address the need for unique genetic diversity in African populations for the African prostate cancer study, the SBIMB Biobank played a significant role by processing approximately 2,000 biosamples - nearly a quarter of the total study sample. 

Currently, the Biobank holds about 30,000 DNA samples from participants of African heritage, gathered from numerous research projects. 

Ms Natalie Smyth, SBIMB Biobank and Laboratory Manager, says, “The research infrastructure is crucial for supporting large-scale genetic research in Africa."

The importance of researching African genomics for prostate cancer

Unique genetic variations help explain why current prostate cancer screening methods are less effective for African men.

Certain prostate cancer variations are not found in European populations, which contributes to higher disease rates in unscreened African groups because European data has thus far guided interventions in Africa.

This study highlights the importance of genetic research in diverse populations. Future research should use ancestry-specific data to address differences in genomic medicine.

Prostate cancer in Men of African Descent

The study is a product of the Men of African Descent and Carcinoma of the Prostate (MADCaP) network, which includes African and US investigators who have explored prostate cancer causes, risks, screening and clinical management over the past 20 years.

“MADCaP is guided by the development of world-class research that affects African populations. Bio-sampling, genotyping and data management are performed in Africa to build local capacity for cancer research," says Dr Timothy Rebbeck from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard, a leader in the study.

"The MADCaP network ensures that data from different centres, including both risk factors and clinical data, are consistent. They hold meetings to encourage communication between clinicians and bioinformaticians. The MADCaP network has also developed a new genotyping array specifically designed to identify genetic links to cancer in African populations, in addition to enhancing research capabilities.”

Chen says that the findings of the study reveal that prostate cancer is a complex disease and that studying this in diverse populations with high disease burden is critical because they may possess genetic risk variants absent in other populations.

Journal

Nature Genetics

DOI

10.1038/s41588-024-01931-3 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Heterogeneous genetic architectures of prostate cancer susceptibility in sub-Saharan Africa

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New research identifies key mental health risk factors for children after trauma


University of East Anglia





Peer-reviewed – Observational Study - People 

A new study has shed light on why some children and adolescents develop mental health disorders like PTSD, anxiety, or depression after experiencing a traumatic event.  

While most children recover well after a traumatic event, some go on to develop mental health disorders that may stay with them for months, years, or even into adulthood.  

The University of East Anglia research found that cognitive psychological factors—such as how children remember the event and how they perceive themselves afterward—are the strongest predictors of poor mental health outcomes following a trauma. 

Co-author Katie Lofthouse, of UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “Some children and adolescents who have experienced traumatic events like road traffic collisions or violence may develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as other conditions such as anxiety and depression. 

“However, we do not understand why children might develop one set of difficulties and not another.  

“We found that cognitive psychological factors – like features of their memories for the trauma and how they see themselves after the trauma – were the most powerful predictors of all forms of poor mental health.  

“Aspects of how severe the trauma was, or a child’s age or sex were much less important.” 

The research team worked with 260 children aged between eight and 17 who had attended a hospital emergency department following a one-off traumatic incident. These included events such as car crashes, assaults, dog attacks and other medical emergencies. 

These young people were assessed at two and nine weeks post-trauma using self-report questionnaires completed by the child, telephone interviews with parents, and hospital data, which was then used to develop four predictive models of risk factors for PTSD, Complex PTSD (CPTSD), depression, and Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD). 

At nine weeks post-trauma, 64pc showed no signs of any disorder, 23.5pc met the criteria for PTSD, and 5.2pc for CPTSD. A total of 23.9pc and 10.7pc had developed clinically significant symptoms of depression and GAD, respectively.  

When it came to predicting who would develop these mental health issues, a model based on how people think (a cognitive model) was the most accurate.  

A model that looked at social and psychological factors was weaker in predicting later mental health symptoms. 

Interestingly, a child's personal perceptions of how severe the event was had a stronger impact on their mental health than objective, measurable facts about the severity of the event. 

Miss Lofthouse added: “These findings highlight risk factors for the development of mental health disorders following trauma exposure in youth.

“Negative thoughts about the traumatic event were a major predictor of all types of mental health problems studied.

“This supports the use of treatments like trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy, which aims to address these negative thoughts.

“Our research also showed that poor memory of the trauma specifically predicted PTSD, suggesting that certain symptoms may help predict different mental health outcomes.” 

Previous research from UEA found that children are more likely to suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if they think their reaction to traumatic events is not ‘normal’. 

This latest research goes into further depth, looking at not just PTSD, but also other mental health outcomes such as complex PTSD, depression, and anxiety. 

Complex PTSD includes all the symptoms of PTSD but also has some additional, more severe emotional and psychological impacts. This can include problems managing extreme emotions, feelings of deep shame, guilt, or worthlessness and difficulty trusting others, feeling detached or isolated, or experiencing ongoing conflicts in relationships. 

There have been few studies that compare how well different models can predict mental health outcomes in people who have experienced trauma, and none of these studies have focused on young people.  

With the recent introduction of Complex PTSD (CPTSD) as a diagnosis, the research team wanted to see if it was possible to predict mental health issues in youth who have been through trauma. 

The research team also considered factors including other life stressors and whether the child was experiencing on-going pain. 

The researchers say the results back up the idea that how a person thinks about their trauma plays a big role in PTSD, but they also show that this model is not disorder-specific and applies to Complex PTSD, depression, and anxiety. 

Further research could look more closely at thoughts tied to specific disorders or focus on general distress after trauma. 

The work was supported by the Medical Research Council and led by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Macquarie University, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London.  

‘Predictive models of post-traumatic stress disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety in children and adolescents following a single-event Trauma' is published in Psychological Medicine. 

Journal

Psychological Medicine

DOI

10.1017/S0033291724001648 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Predictive models of post-traumatic stress disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety in children and adolescents following a single-event Trauma

Article Publication Date

7-Oct-2024

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Rage clicks: Study shows how political outrage fuels social media engagement



Researchers found a “confrontation effect,” where people are more likely to interact with content that challenges their views than those that align with them.




Tulane University




A new Tulane University study explains why politically charged content gets more engagement from those who disagree. Researchers found a “confrontation effect,” where people are more likely to interact with content that challenges their views than those that align with them.

The study analyzed data from Twitter, Facebook, and online experiments over time, including during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and found that users frequently react to opposing viewpoints with heightened engagement, often driven by outrage.

“The research helps explain the large amount of toxic discourse we observe online. Our results reveal that individuals are strongly driven to voice their outrage toward those with whom they disagree,” said study lead author Daniel Mochon, the Edward H. Austin Jr. Professor of Business Administration and an associate professor of marketing at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business. “While previous studies show that people avoid content inconsistent with their beliefs, we found that counter-ideological content actually drives higher engagement.”

The study was published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 

Researchers exposed more than 500,000 Americans to political posts on Facebook, including those for and against then-President Donald Trump, to observe how users responded based on their political affiliations. The results showed that users were far more likely to comment on or react to posts that contradicted their beliefs, especially when they felt their core values were challenged.

Mochon noted that some social media platforms and users exploit anger to drive engagement. “Platforms benefit from keeping users active, regardless of whether the interaction is positive or negative,” he said.  

The study found that engagement isn't always an accurate indicator of user preferences. While engagement in areas like sports or fashion reflects interest, political engagement often stems from anger, creating a vicious cycle.

For example, many comments on Vice President Kamala Harris’ X account appear to be from people with opposing political views, despite their likely preference not to follow her account.

The research provides insights that could inform strategies for political campaigns, media organizations and social media platforms aiming to manage divisive content. For policymakers, understanding this dynamic can help in regulating online discourse and mitigating the rise of toxic discussions.

“We hope our findings provide a more balanced perspective on the interplay between ideology and online engagement,” Mochon said.

The paper was co-authored by Janet Schwartz from Duke University.

Journal

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

DOI

10.1016/j.obhdp.2024.104366 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

The confrontation effect: When users engage more with ideology-inconsistent content online

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E-waste experts urge public: Stop trashing electronic products with ordinary garbage (International E-Waste Day Oct. 14 )


14 tonnes of e-waste discarded with regular household garbage every year equals in weight ~24,000 of the world's heaviest passenger planes – enough to form a queue from London-Helsinki, NY-Miami, Cairo-Tripoli, Bangkok- Calcutta



WEEE Forum

International E-Waste Day 

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E-waste is growing in volume five times faster than e-waste recycling.  Organisations involved in effective and responsible e-waste management awareness-raising activities for 14 October, International E-Waste Day.  These range from social media, TV and radio campaigns to city or school e-waste collections and more.

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Credit: WEEE Forum




To mark the upcoming International E-Waste Day, Oct. 14, consumers worldwide are urged to collect dead and/or unused electronics and electrical products and give them a second life through reuse or repair, or recycle them properly.  

Above all: stop tossing them out in household waste bins.

The Global E-waste Monitor 2024, authored by UNITAR in cooperation with ITU, reported almost a quarter of end-of-life electronic waste ends up in home trash, squandering billions of dollars worth of copper, gold and other precious metals, materials critical to the production of such products, along with valuable plastics, and glass.

The 14 million tonnes of e-waste (dead or unused products with a battery or plug) discarded with ordinary household waste equals the weight of ~24,000 of the world's heaviest passenger aircraft – enough to form an unbroken queue of giant planes from London to Helsinki, NY to Miami, Cairo to Tripoli, or Bangkok to Calcutta.

Says Pascal Leroy, Director General of the Brussels-based Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum: "Small electronic and electrical goods such as mobile phones, toys, remote controls, game consoles, headphones, lamps, screens and monitors, heating and cooling equipment, and chargers are everywhere. And electronic components embedded in consumer products large and small – even clothing – are now omnipresent. The 844 million e-cigarettes thrown away in 2022 alone contained enough lithium, for example, to power 15,000 electric cars.”

Adds Magdalena Charytanowicz of the WEEE Forum in charge of International E-Waste Day:"We know what to do, and we can do better."

Ms. Charytanowicz says the place to start is the junk drawer, a common feature of homes around the world.

Globally, there are 108 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people. And earlier surveys have shown that European households alone store about 700 million unused or non-functioning mobile phones – an average of more than two per household.

Why people hoard

She adds that "hoarding is an issue predominantly in wealthier countries. Elsewhere, reasons for keeping appliances are often personal data concerns or a desire to recover some of their value."

A 2022 survey helped explain why so many EU households and businesses fail to bring WEEE in for repair or recycling.

Undertaken by WEEE Forum members – not-for-profit entities that collect e-waste from households and businesses on behalf of manufacturers, and consolidated by UNITAR’s Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) Programme, the survey showed the average European household contains 74 e-products, such as phones, tablets, laptops, electric tools, hair dryers, toasters and other appliances (excluding lamps). The survey sample included 8,775 households across a diverse group of European Union countries – Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Romania and Slovenia – combined with a UK survey, 

Of the 74 average total e-products, 13 were being hoarded (9 of them unused but working, 4 broken).

Top reasons for hoarding in Europe:

  • Might use it again in the future (46%) 
  • Plan to sell / give it away (15%)
  • Has sentimental value (13%)
  • Might have value in the future (9%)
  • Don’t know how to dispose of it (7%)

Others include:

  • Didn't have time, forgot about it, does not take up too much space (3%)
  • Planned use in secondary residence (3%)
  • Presence of sensitive data (2%)
  • There is no incentive to recycle (1%)

Complementary research reveals what motivates people to recycle e-waste:

  • Knowledge – understanding where and how to dispose of e-waste and why our actions can make a difference; 
  • Convenient collection points – making it easy for consumers to make the right gesture;
  • Compensation – some consumers are motivated by financial or other type of compensations; 
  • Social norms – following what others do
  • Care for the environment – a growing concern for many;
  • Benefits to charities – doing something good for others, such as offering unused appliances for reuse, is a great motivator 

People are often surprised by information about the positive CO2 impact of e-waste recycling or simply happy to have done the ‘right thing’. See videos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwqZMb95b3Q 

Many Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) – members of the WEEE Forum – organise communication campaigns and provide collection points, now more than 183,000 in all. To date, PROs have collected, cleaned, and recycled or sent for refurbishment 41.6 million tonnes of WEEE, with 3.1 million tonnes collected in 2022. 

Great progress is being made but everyone has a role to play as the volumes of e-waste generated grow rapidly, says Ms. Charytanowicz.

Urging people to Join the E-Waste Hunt -- Retrieve, Recycle and Revive -- the WEEE Forum outlined the Five Ws of E-Waste recycling:

What: Any product with a battery or plug.

Where: WEEE Forum members' collection points: weee-forum.org/members, or any other official e-waste collection point

Why: According to Global E-waste Monitor 2024 (UNITAR / ITU):

  • Global e-waste management reduces CO2 equivalent emissions by 93 billion kg annually, equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 20 million cars
  • Proper e-waste recycling avoids leakages of harmful substance such as lead or cadmium to the environment
  • In 2022, e-waste produced globally contained approximately 4 billion kg of metals classified as critical raw materials, including 3.9 billion kg of aluminium, 34 million kg of cobalt, and 28 million kg of antimony
  • Recovering and reusing secondary raw materials from e-waste in 2022 avoided the need to mine 900 million tonnes of ore (the weight of 17,200 Titanics)

Who: You

When: Now

Says Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau: “Almost 80% of the world's population today own a mobile phone. Among them, there are those who have several devices, in some cases, each with its own type of chargers, cables and accessories. I call on everyone to ensure the proper recycling of these devices, which is key to reducing their environmental impact and minimizing resource scarcity.”

“We need to keep monitoring the development in the years to come, as the global rise of e-waste generation is outpacing the formal collection and recycling by five times since 2010,” said Kees Baldé, Senior Scientific Specialist at UNITAR SCYCLE, and a lead researcher behind the Global e-Waste Monitor.”

* * * * *

International e-Waste Day (#ewasteday)

Last year, over 195 organisations from 55 countries supported the 4th International E-Waste Day observance. This year, the WEEE Forum invited all organisations involved in effective and responsible e-waste management to plan awareness-raising activities for 14 October. These range from social media, TV and radio campaigns to city or school e-waste collections or even artistic performances.  

www.internationalewasteday.com 


UN research shows 62 billion kg of e-waste were generated globally in 2022 -- 29 kg for each household on Earth

Credit

WEEE Forum

WEEE Forum 

The WEEE Forum (a.i.s.b.l.*) is a Brussels-based for-impact association representing 53 sector-mandated producer responsibility organisations (PROs) worldwide. Through our members’ collective knowledge of the technical, business and operational aspects of collection, logistics, de-pollution, processing, preparing for reuse, and reporting of e-waste, we are at the forefront of making extended producer responsibility an effective waste management policy. Our mission is to be the world’s foremost e-waste competence centre, excelling in the implementation of the circularity principle. 

Member PROs are based in Europe, Oceania, Africa, Asia and the Americas: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Georgia, France, Iceland, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Since their founding, the WEEE Forum’s producer responsibility organisations have collected, de-polluted and recycled or sent for preparation for re-use 41.6 million tonnes of WEEE. More than 3.1 million tonnes of this was collected in 2022.

(*) Association internationale sans but lucratif/international non-for-profit association

www.weee-forum.org

Correspondence: pascal.leroy@weee-forum.org 

* * * * *

WEEE Forum member contacts (for national e-waste insights):

* * * * *

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Hospitals that are understaffed for infection prevention and control have higher rates of infection, study says



Nearly 4 in 5 hospitals are not staffed at sufficient level to keep patients safe from preventable infections



Association for Professionals in Infection Control


 

Arlington, Va. — October 10, 2024 — Inadequate infection prevention and control staffing levels are associated with higher rates of healthcare-associated infections, according to a new study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control.

The study, conducted by the APIC Center for Research, Practice & Innovation, summarizes a pilot project to evaluate a new online calculator aimed at providing facility-specific recommendations for infection prevention staffing.

Infection prevention and control programs with staffing levels that are below expected demonstrated significantly higher rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), Clostridioides difficile infections, and colon surgical site infections.

For example, 25% of facilities staffed at lower-than-expected staffing levels had elevated CAUTI rates, as compared to only 7% of hospitals with expected or above expected staffing levels.

In an analysis of 390 acute care hospitals that participated in the study, the calculator tool identified nearly 80% (79.2%) as having insufficient staff levels in this area.

Historically, hospitals utilized benchmarks that relied on a ratio of infection preventionists (IPs) per inpatient bed (ranging from 69-100 beds in the last decade). This traditional “one size fits all” method for calculating appropriate IP staffing levels is inadequate and outdated in the modern complex healthcare environment.    

Recognizing the need for a more customized recommendation for IP staffing, APIC developed an online staffing calculator with a predictive algorithm that allows users to enter information about their hospital facility and receive an assessment of staffing needs specific to them. The calculator adjusts optimal staffing ratios based on factors such as the complexity of services provided or the presence of an emergency department, burn unit, stem cell transplant unit, or inpatient rehabilitation unit.

“This facility-specific calculator for infection prevention and control staffing levels is a completely novel tool for our community and one that is clearly needed to help hospitals advocate for adequate resources to keep patients and healthcare workers safe,” said Rebecca Bartles, DrPH, MPH, CIC, FAPIC, executive director of the Center for Research, Practice & Innovation at APIC and lead author of this study. “We look forward to updating the calculator soon with new categories and more granularity based on our experience with the beta tool and to making it available to the IP and broader healthcare communities.”

Additional details from the study include:

  • Hospitals included ranged in size from eight beds to more than 2,000 beds
  • Staffing levels ranged from 1 IP per 40 beds at small hospitals (fewer than 25 beds) to a peak of 1 IP per 161 beds in hospitals with 301-400 beds
  • More than 85% of respondents who believed their staff levels were inadequate came from hospitals found to have lower than expected IP staffing.

 

“This study lays to rest any doubt about the critical need for appropriate levels of IP staffing, identifying an undeniable link between sufficient infection prevention and control resources and patient safety, as measured by rates of healthcare-associated infections,” said Tania Bubb, PhD, RN, CIC, FAPIC, 2024 APIC president. “I believe this calculator will be essential for ensuring that healthcare facilities can target optimal IP staff numbers and improve patient care. It’s an excellent example of the research and development APIC is doing to enhance infection prevention and control everywhere.”

APIC calls on hospital leadership to require use of the staffing calculator to evaluate the need for IP staff, and more importantly, make needed investments in IP staffing per the customized staffing recommendations for their institutions. Additionally, APIC urges the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and standards bodies to require use of the APIC staffing calculator to determine appropriate IP staffing needs.

 About APIC

Founded in 1972, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is the leading association for infection preventionists and epidemiologists. With more than 15,000 members, APIC advances the science and practice of infection prevention and control. APIC carries out its mission through research, advocacy, and patient safety; education, credentialing, and certification; and fostering development of the infection prevention and control workforce of the future. Together with our members and partners, we are working toward a safer world through the prevention of infection. Join us and learn more at apic.org.

About AJIC

As the official peer-reviewed journal of APIC, The American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) is the foremost resource on infection control, epidemiology, infectious diseases, quality management, occupational health, and disease prevention. Published by Elsevier, AJIC also publishes infection control guidelines from APIC and the CDC. AJIC is included in Index Medicus and CINAHL. Visit AJIC at ajicjournal.org.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

“Closing the Gap on Infection Prevention Staffing Recommendations: Results from the Beta Version of the APIC Staffing Calculator,” by Rebecca Bartles, Sara Reese, and Alexandr Gumbar, was published online in AJIC on October 10, 2024. Available at:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2024.09.004

AUTHORS

Rebecca Bartles, DrPH, MPH, CIC, FAPIC (corresponding author: rbartles@apic.org), Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Center for Research, Practice & Innovation

Sara Reese, PhD, MPH, CIC, FAPIC, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Center for Research, Practice & Innovation

Alexandr Gumbar, SA, CSM, MCSE, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Information Technology

# # #

Journal

American Journal of Infection Control

DOI

10.1016/j.ajic.2024.09.004 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Closing the Gap on Infection Prevention Staffing Recommendations: Results from the Beta Version of the APIC Staffing Calculator

Article Publication Date

10-Oct-2024

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