Infectious Diseases Physician, Medical Director of Infection Prevention
Denver Health
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
Heather Young MD is the Medical Director of Infection Prevention at Denver Health and an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is also the Principal Investigator for Region 8's Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center. Dr. Young loves collaborate on projects with colleagues across the country. If you have an interest in any of the topics below, or if you just want to talk about infection prevention topics, please do not hesitate to contact her at Heather.Young2@dhha.org
Academic interests:
1. Prevention of bacteremia for hospitalized patients. Dr. Young focuses on not only insertion and maintenance practices, but also on the removal of vascular access devices. She has recently published articles in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology on idle peripheral IV catheters and hospital-onset bacteremia and is actively working to develop simple guidelines for the removal of vascular access devices.
2. Employee safety in the healthcare setting. Dr. Young transformed the employee exposure reporting process at Denver Health from a nurse triage hotline to an online platform. This transformation has led to higher employee satisfaction, decreased variation in post-exposure clincial care, and cost savings.
3. Special pathogens. Dr. Young has an interest in the early recognition of contagious pathogens such as measles, novel influenza, and viral hemorrhagic fevers. She is currently studying how human factors impact the efficacy of the Identify, Isolate, Inform process.