PPE comes in many forms: gloves, masks, face shields, goggles, gowns, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic caused worldwide shortages in PPE and forced a reimagining of PPE. From disinfecting and reuse to incorporation of antimicrobial agents, PPE is changing. How effective will these changes be? We will have to lean heavily on current standard test methods, as well as developing new ones. During this presentation, we will discuss what we mean by “antimicrobial”. We will also go over current standard test methods for antimicrobial products and their positives and negatives. Finally, we will end by discussing where the antimicrobial testing field needs to go in order to meet the needs of this ever-evolving industry.
Dr. Matthew Hardwick
Dr. Hardwick is a thought leader in the field of infection prevention in the healthcare environment of care and is an expert in antimicrobial surface technologies. He has 20 years of academic research experience, at Georgetown University where he completed his PhD in Cell Biology, and at Johns Hopkins University, where he completed 2 postdoctoral fellowships, one in the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the second in the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute. Dr. Hardwick’s last academic appointment was with the MedStar Health Research Institute where he worked on numerous research initiatives including the use of antimicrobial surfaces in clinical healthcare environments. He is widely published, including several articles on the use of antimicrobials in clinical environments and the role of microbial surface contamination on infection rates in clinical settings.
