COVID is Not the Only Concern: What You Need to Know about Isolation Gowns

Protective gowns play a major role in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Understanding the differences in the wide variety available is critical to the safety of staff and patients, but recent product shortages over the last few months have revealed confusion among providers over gown types and uses. Join ECRI’s infection prevention experts who are currently performing testing on gowns and how they are used in healthcare settings.

Learning objectives

At the end of this webinar, attendees will be able to: 

• Understand the differences between gowns
• Review considerations based on clinical application and known risks
• Discuss what lab testing has revealed
• Know how to ensure you have a true isolation gown
• The current supply: functional equivalents, product availability, top suppliers and price trends

Andrew Furman, MD, MMM, FACEP

Executive Director, Clinical Excellence, Technology Assessment, ECRI
Andrew Furman is an emergency medicine physician who has worked in clinical and leadership roles in Pennsylvania and Oregon. He worked as a quality and communications consultant within the Geisinger Health System, acting as a liaison between the closed model of care delivery at Geisinger and the more open models of care delivery in newly acquired hospitals and health systems. At Salem Health, in Salem, Oregon, he served as Vice President of Medical Affairs. After completing a Master of Medical Management degree at University of Southern California Marshall School Business, he joined Accolade in Plymouth Meeting. While at Accolade, Dr. Furman supported the organization’s mission to equip employees of self-insured companies with people, tools, and technology that empowered them to better navigate the complicated healthcare environment.

Jason Launders

Director of Operations, Device Evaluation, ECRI
Jason Launders has been at ECRI since 1998 and is currently the Director of Operations for the Device Evaluation group. Jason’s primary responsibility is managing ECRI’s laboratory based evaluations of medical technologies. Jason has an MSc in Medical Physics and spent his earlier time at ECRI evaluating a wide range of diagnostic imaging technology, such as: CT, MRI, PACS, and Digital Radiography. Today, he is responsible for developing the content of evaluations to ensure they meet the needs of our members.

Ericka L. Kalp, PhD, MPH, CIC, FAPIC

Director of Consulting, PSRQ Risk Management Contracts, ECRI
Ericka Kalp has 20 years of experience in Epidemiology and Infection Prevention and Control across acute care, long-term care, ambulatory care, and specialty clinics. Currently the Director of PSRQ Consulting at ECRI, she previously served as an Epidemiologist and Program Manager at the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH), Bureau of Epidemiology, Healthcare–Associated Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship program. Prior to her position with the DOH, she served as the Director of Epidemiology and Infection Prevention at WellSpan Health (formerly Summit Health) for fourteen years. Dr. Kalp earned a B.S. in Biobehavioral Health and a Minor in Natural Science from The Pennsylvania State University. She completed her Master of Public Health (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) at Drexel University and earned a PhD in Public Health (Epidemiology) at Walden University. She is board certified in Infection Prevention and Control and Epidemiology (CIC) and is a Fellow of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Karen Haberland

Project Officer, Device Evaluation, ECRI
Julie has been at ECRI for eight years and is a Senior Project Engineer in ECRI’s Device Evaluation group. Julie has a Master’s degree in Bioengineering and specializes in the evaluation of surgical technologies. Recent evaluations include electrosurgical electrodes, surgical smoke evacuators, and powered and manual linear endoscopic surgical staplers.

Margaret M. Miller, BS, MT (ASCP) M, CIC, FAPIC

Infection Preventionist, ECRI
Margaret Miller has 25+ years of experience in acute care infection prevention. Ms. Miller earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology from Bloomsburg University, is an active member of APIC, has maintained certification in infection prevention since 1996, and was designated by APIC as a fellow in infection prevention in 2016. Prior to joining ECRI in December, she was the sepsis project manager at The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, and a subject matter expert for HAPevolve for infection prevention and COVID-19 care in acute and post-acute facilities.

Timothy Browne

Executive Director, Supply Guide, ECRI
Timothy D. Browne is ECRI Institute’s Executive Director of Supply Guide and has 30+ years of dedicated service to the non-profit organization. He developed and directs the Supply Guide product suite, which assist hospitals and health care systems with the procurement of medical/surgical supplies and implants. Supply Guide focuses on revealing opportunities with respect to cost savings, standardization and utilization analytics. He has also played a critical role in the development of ECRI’s Value Analysis Work Flow, a single source workflow management system that streamlines the analysis of new product requests, conversions and acquisitions.