peoplepill id: didier-pittet
DP
Switzerland
2 views today
2 views this week
Didier Pittet
Swiss infectiologue and epidemiologist co-inventor of the hydro-alcoholic disinfection gel for the hands

Didier Pittet

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
Swiss infectiologue and epidemiologist co-inventor of the hydro-alcoholic disinfection gel for the hands
Places
Switzerland
is
Physician Doctor Immunologist Epidemiologist Infectious disease physician Professor Educator Inventor
Work field
Academia Biology Healthcare
Gender
Male
Birth
20 March 1957 People who share this birthday
Place of birth
Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland
Star sign
PiscesPisces People who share this birthday
Age
67 years
Education
University of Geneva
Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland
University of Iowa
USA
Collège Calvin
Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland
Employers
Geneva University Hospitals
Canton of Geneva, Switzerland
(1992-)
Awards
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
 
European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
(2009)
American Society for Microbiology
(2016)
Robert Koch Prize
(2017)
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Didier Pittet (born 20 March 1957 in Geneva, Switzerland) is an infectious diseases expert and the director of the Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Since 2005, Pittet is also the External Lead of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Patient Safety Challenge "Clean Care is Safer Care" and African Partnerships for Patient Safety.

In the 2007 New Year Honours List, Didier Pittet was awarded the Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his services related to the prevention of healthcare-associated infections in the UK.

Career

Pittet graduated in 1976 from the Collège Calvin secondary school in Geneva, Switzerland. Following a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Community Health at the University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine, he graduated as M.D. in 1983 from the same institution, and received a master's degree (MS) in Epidemiology and Public Health from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, US, in 1992. Pittet began his career as an infectious diseases expert with a special interest in the intensive care setting and device-associated and yeast infections, but this rapidly expanded to include research in overall hospital epidemiology and infection prevention and control. In 1992, he was appointed as Director of the Infection Control Programme at the University Hospital of Geneva and named Professor of Medicine in 2000 by the University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine.

Academic and other posts (selected)

Pittet is Visiting Professor, Division of Investigative Science and School of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK; Honorary Professor, 1st Medical School of the Fu, Shanghai, China; Honorary Professor, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, China. Since 2002, Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) Planning Committee member Since 2011, Co-Chair, 1st International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC)

Landmark research

Initial observation studies in Geneva by Pittet's team showed a low compliance with basic hand hygiene practices and a lack of awareness by healthcare workers that the main cause of cross-transmission of microorganisms is by hands. Time constraint was identified as the major determinant for poor compliance. The challenge was to facilitate hand hygiene for staff and to find an innovative idea to do so. Under Pittet's leadership, the team investigated concepts from the social sciences to help understand the determinants driving healthcare worker behaviour, which led to the creation of a multimodal strategy based on education, recognition of opportunities for hand hygiene, and feedback on performance where the key component was the introduction of alcohol-based hand rub at the point of care to replace handwashing at the sink ("system change"), thus bypassing the time constraint of the latter method.

"The Geneva Hand Hygiene Model": a breakthrough intervention

The first multimodal intervention ran from 1995 to 2000 at the University of Geneva Hospitals with a spectacular decrease of almost 50% in hospital-associated infections and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) transmission in parallel with a sustained improvement in compliance with hand hygiene. The methodology and results were published in The Lancet in 2000 and the strategy became known in as "The Geneva Hand Hygiene Model". During 1995–1997, Pittet had applied the same multimodal concept to a prevention strategy targeted at vascular access care and showed that it can decrease these infections and substantially impact on the overall incidence of all intensive care unit-acquired infections. Similarly, interventions to reduce urinary tract infections were successfully applied. Pittet's team also proved the cost-effectiveness of their interventions and long-term sustainability. Pittet's vision is that to advance infection prevention and control strategies, it is essential to seek insight and innovation through other specialty fields, such as anthropology or sociology, or even engineering, computer science, mathematical modelling, and systems thinking.

Going global

In 2004, Pittet was approached by the WHO World Alliance of Patient Safety to lead the First Global Patient Safety Challenge under the banner "Clean Care is Safer Care". The mandate was to galvanise global commitment to tackle health-care associated infection, which had been identified as a significant area of risk for patients in all United Nations Member States. Hand hygiene was to be the cornerstone of the Challenge. As co-author of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines for Hand Hygiene, Pittet proposed that WHO Guidelines for Hand Hygiene in Health Care be developed under his leadership in consultation with other international experts. The final version of the Guidelines was published in 2009. In 2008, the infection control programme of the University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine was designated as the first WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety (Infection Control and Improving Practices) in Europe.

The "Geneva Hand Hygiene Model" was used as the basis for the recommended implementation strategy for the global promotion of hand hygiene. As of December 2011, "Clean Care is Safer Care" has been endorsed by ministers of health in over 120 countries worldwide―representing a coverage of more than 90% of the world population. Forty-two countries/networks have already started hand hygiene initiatives using the proposed strategy. Alcohol-based hand rub is promoted actively as the new standard of care, including in resource-poor countries. Pittet's team developed the "Five Moments" concept to explain to healthcare workers the critical moments when hand hygiene must be carried out and this model is currently used worldwide. Save Lives: Clean Your Hands is the Challenge's annual campaign with almost 15,000 hospitals registered from more than 150 countries at the end of December 2011.

Selected awards and honours

  • 1999: 1st Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis Research Prize (accomplishments in the field of hand hygiene)
  • 1999: The Hygiene Prize 1999 - Rudolf Schülke Foundation (accomplishments in the field of infection control)
  • 2002: Society of Health Care Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Young Investigator Award in recognition of outstanding career contributions to infection control and healthcare epidemiology
  • 2003: The Lowbury Lecture, Federation of Infection Societies Annual Conference (UK)
  • 2005: The Graham Ayliffe Lecture (Hospital Infection Society), UK
  • 2007: Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
  • 2008: Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Lectureship
  • 2008: Forbes Fellow, Melbourne Infectious Diseases Group (Australia)
  • 2009: European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Award for Excellence in Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
  • 2009: Hsu-Li Distinguished Lectureship in Epidemiology, University of Iowa (USA)

Selected videos

Main research interests, 1991–2011

Between 1991 and 2011, Pittet and his collaborators made significant contributions to different research fields. Five key references have been selected for each of the following main research topics:

  • Infection prevention as a global priority
  • Infection and infection prevention in low- and middle-income economies
  • Noma – the disease of poverty
  • Epidemiology, surveillance, and international health
  • Hand hygiene in healthcare
  • Hand hygiene and Semmelweis
  • Hand hygiene – dynamics of hand colonization
  • Hand hygiene – alcohol-based handrubs as the universal gold standard
  • Hand hygiene guidelines
  • Hand hygiene education
  • Patients as partners in care
  • Multimodal interventions to reduce infections
  • Nosocomial bloodstream infection
  • Catheter-associated infections
  • Ventilator-associated pneumonia
  • Infections in the critically ill
  • Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis, severe sepsis and their cascades
  • Infections due to Candida spp
  • Epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
  • MRSA control
  • Paediatric infection control
  • Bone and foreign body infections
  • World Health Organization Clean Care is Safer Care and SaveLives: Cleanyourhands [access to references at: [1]
  • World Health Organization African Partnerships for Patient Safety [access to references at: [2]

Publications

Scientific publications by theme
Top ten peer-reviewed publications

Pittet is author/co-author of approximately 500 publications, including 300 peer-reviewed publications and 50 chapters in authoritative medical textbooks.

Selected chapters
  • Pittet D, Harbarth S. The intensive care unit. In: Hospital Infections. Brachman PS and Bennett JV, eds, 5th ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia; 2007.
  • Pittet D, Allegranzi B, Sax H. Hand hygiene. In: Hospital Infections. Brachman PS and Bennett JV, eds, 5th ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia; 2007.
  • Allegranzi B, Longtin Y, Pittet D. Infection control in the healthcare setting. In: Control of Communicable Diseases Manual. Heymann DL (ed), 19th ed. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC, USA. 2008.
  • Sax H, Pittet D. Severe soft-tissue infections. In: Oh's Manual for Intensive Care Medicine. Bersten A, Sony N, Oh T, eds. 6th ed. Butterworth-Heinemann (Elsevier Ltd), London, UK, chap 63, pp 731–737, 2009.
  • Boyce J, Pittet D. Improving hand hygiene in healthcare settings. In: SHEA Practical Handbook for Healthcare Epidemiologists. 3rd ed. Lautenbach E, Woeltje F, Malani PN (eds). University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Infection prevention as a global priority
Infection and infection prevention in low- and middle-income economies
Noma, disease of poverty
Epidemiology, surveillance and international health
Hand hygiene in healthcare
Hand hygiene and Semmelweis
Hand hygiene
dynamics of hand colonisation
Hand hygiene
alcohol-based handrubs as the universal gold standard
Hand hygiene guidelines
Hand hygiene education
  • Sax, H.; Allegranzi, B.; Uçkay, I.; Larson, E.; Boyce, J.; Pittet, D. (2007). "'My five moments for hand hygiene': A user-centred design approach to understand, train, monitor and report hand hygiene". Journal of Hospital Infection. 67 (1): 9–21. doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2007.06.004. PMID 17719685.
  • Whitby, M.; Pessoa-Silva, C.L.; McLaws, M.-L.; Allegranzi, B.; Sax, H.; Larson, E.; Seto, W.H.; Donaldson, L.; Pittet, D. (2007). "Behavioural considerations for hand hygiene practices: The basic building blocks". Journal of Hospital Infection. 65 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2006.09.026. PMID 17145101.
  • Allegranzi, B; Memish, ZA; Donaldson, L; Pittet, D; World Health Organization Global Patient Safety Challenge Task Force on Religious Cultural Aspects of Hand Hygiene; World Alliance for Patient Safety (2009). "Religion and culture: Potential undercurrents influencing hand hygiene promotion in health care". American Journal of Infection Control. 37 (1): 28–34. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2008.01.014. PMC 7115273. PMID 18834738.
  • Sax, H; Allegranzi, B; Chraïti, MN; Boyce, J; Larson, E; Pittet, D (2009). "The World Health Organization hand hygiene observation method". American Journal of Infection Control. 37 (10): 827–34. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2009.07.003. PMID 20004812.
  • Longtin, Yves; Sax, Hugo; Allegranzi, Benedetta; Schneider, Franck; Pittet, Didier (2011). "Hand Hygiene". New England Journal of Medicine. 364 (13): e24. doi:10.1056/NEJMvcm0903599. PMID 21449775.
Patients as partners in care
Multimodal interventions to reduce infections
  • Pittet, Didier; Hugonnet, Stéphane; Harbarth, Stephan; Mourouga, Philippe; Sauvan, Valérie; Touveneau, Sylvie; Perneger, Thomas V (2000). "Effectiveness of a hospital-wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene". The Lancet. 356 (9238): 1307–12. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02814-2. PMID 11073019. S2CID 18760147.
  • Eggimann, P; Harbarth, S; Constantin, MN; Touveneau, S; Chevrolet, JC; Pittet, D (2000). "Impact of a prevention strategy targeted at vascular-access care on incidence of infections acquired in intensive care". The Lancet. 355 (9218): 1864–8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02291-1. PMID 10866442. S2CID 35022749.
  • Stephan, F.; Sax, H.; Wachsmuth, M.; Hoffmeyer, P.; Clergue, F.; Pittet, D. (2006). "Reduction of Urinary Tract Infection and Antibiotic Use after Surgery: A Controlled, Prospective, Before-After Intervention Study". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 42 (11): 1544–51. doi:10.1086/503837. PMID 16652311.
  • Pessoa-Silva, C. L.; Hugonnet, S.; Pfister, R.; Touveneau, S.; Dharan, S.; Posfay-Barbe, K.; Pittet, D. (2007). "Reduction of Health Care Associated Infection Risk in Neonates by Successful Hand Hygiene Promotion". Pediatrics. 120 (2): e382–90. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-3712. PMID 17664257. S2CID 7745276.
  • Allegranzi, B; Sax, H; Bengaly, L; Richet, H; Minta, DK; Chraiti, MN; Sokona, FM; Gayet-Ageron, A; et al. (2010). "Successful implementation of the World Health Organization hand hygiene improvement strategy in a referral hospital in Mali, Africa". Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 31 (2): 133–41. doi:10.1086/649796. PMID 20017633. S2CID 24443644.
Nosocomial bloodstream infection
Catheter-associated infections
  • Widmer, A. F.; Pittet, D. (1992). "Optimal Duration of Therapy for Catheter-Related Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 14 (6): 1259–60. doi:10.1093/clinids/14.6.1259. PMID 1623083.
  • Eggimann, P; Harbarth, S; Constantin, MN; Touveneau, S; Chevrolet, JC; Pittet, D (2000). "Impact of a prevention strategy targeted at vascular-access care on incidence of infections acquired in intensive care". The Lancet. 355 (9218): 1864–8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02291-1. PMID 10866442. S2CID 35022749.
  • Eggimann, P; Hugonnet, S; Sax, H; Harbarth, S; Chevrolet, JC; Pittet, D (2005). "Long-term reduction of vascular access-associated bloodstream infection". Annals of Internal Medicine. 142 (10): 875–6. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-142-10-200505170-00025. PMID 15897546.
  • Zingg, W.; Sax, H.; Inan, C.; Cartier, V.; Diby, M.; Clergue, F.; Pittet, D.; Walder, B. (2009). "Hospital-wide surveillance of catheter-related bloodstream infection: From the expected to the unexpected". Journal of Hospital Infection. 73 (1): 41–6. doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2009.05.015. PMID 19646788.
  • Perencevich, E. N.; Pittet, D. (2009). "Preventing Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections: Thinking Outside the Checklist". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 301 (12): 1285–7. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.420. PMID 19318658.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia
Infections in the critically ill
  • Pittet, D; Thiévent, B; Wenzel, RP; Li, N; Auckenthaler, R; Suter, PM (1996). "Bedside prediction of mortality from bacteremic sepsis. A dynamic analysis of ICU patients". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 153 (2): 684–93. doi:10.1164/ajrccm.153.2.8564118. PMID 8564118.
  • Harbarth, S; Holeckova, K; Froidevaux, C; Pittet, D; Ricou, B; Grau, GE; Vadas, L; Pugin, J; Geneva Sepsis, Network (2001). "Diagnostic value of procalcitonin, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8 in critically ill patients admitted with suspected sepsis". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 164 (3): 396–402. doi:10.1164/ajrccm.164.3.2009052. PMID 11500339.
  • Hugonnet, S; Eggimann, P; Sax, H; Touveneau, S; Chevrolet, JC; Pittet, D (2002). "Intensive care unit-acquired infections: Is postdischarge surveillance useful?". Critical Care Medicine. 30 (12): 2636–8. doi:10.1097/00003246-200212000-00004. PMID 12483051. S2CID 44340854.
  • Eggimann, P; Harbarth, S; Ricou, B; Hugonnet, S; Ferriere, K; Suter, P; Pittet, D (2003). "Acute respiratory distress syndrome after bacteremic sepsis does not increase mortality". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 167 (9): 1210–4. doi:10.1164/rccm.200210-1196OC. PMID 12615616.
  • Hugonnet, S; Chevrolet, JC; Pittet, D (2007). "The effect of workload on infection risk in critically ill patients". Critical Care Medicine. 35 (1): 76–81. doi:10.1097/01.CCM.0000251125.08629.3F. PMID 17095946. S2CID 26075308.
  • Hugonnet, S; Villaveces, A; Pittet, D (2007). "Nurse staffing level and nosocomial infections: Empirical evaluation of the case-crossover and case-time-control designs". American Journal of Epidemiology. 165 (11): 1321–7. doi:10.1093/aje/kwm041. PMID 17400571.
Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis, severe sepsis and their cascades
  • Pittet, D; Rangel-Frausto, S; Li, N; Tarara, D; Costigan, M; Rempe, L; Jebson, P; Wenzel, RP (1995). "Systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock: Incidence, morbidities and outcomes in surgical ICU patients". Intensive Care Medicine. 21 (4): 302–9. doi:10.1007/BF01705408. PMID 7650252. S2CID 36497077.
  • Rangel-Frausto, M. S.; Pittet, D.; Costigan, M.; Hwang, T.; Davis, C. S.; Wenzel, R. P. (1995). "The Natural History of the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) A Prospective Study". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 273 (2): 117–23. doi:10.1001/jama.1995.03520260039030. PMID 7799491.
  • Rangel‐Frausto, M. Sigfrido; Pittet, Didier; Hwang, Taekyu; Woolson, Robert F.; Wenzel, Richard P. (1998). "The Dynamics of Disease Progression in Sepsis: Markov Modeling Describing the Natural History and the Likely Impact of Effective Antisepsis Agents". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 27 (1): 185–90. doi:10.1086/514630. PMID 9675475.
  • Pittet, D; Harbarth, S; Suter, PM; Reinhart, K; Leighton, A; Barker, C; MacDonald, F; Abraham, E (1999). "Impact of immunomodulating therapy on morbidity in patients with severe sepsis". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 160 (3): 852–7. doi:10.1164/ajrccm.160.3.9809033. PMID 10471608.
  • Harbarth, S; Garbino, J; Pugin, J; Romand, JA; Lew, D; Pittet, D (2003). "Inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy and its effect on survival in a clinical trial of immunomodulating therapy for severe sepsis". The American Journal of Medicine. 115 (7): 529–35. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2003.07.005. PMID 14599631.
Infections due to Candida spp.
Epidemiology of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Paediatric infection control
Bone and foreign body infections

Bibliography

  • (in French) Thierry Crouzet, Le geste qui sauve, Éditions l'Âge d'homme, 2014, 172 pages (ISBN 978-2825144008).
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
Lists
Didier Pittet is in following lists

By field of work

Notable Swiss people in academia

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss biologists

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss people in healthcare and medicine

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

By work and/or country

Notable Swiss Physicians

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss Doctors

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss Immunologists

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss Epidemiologists

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss Infectious disease physicians

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss Professors

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss Educators

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

Notable Swiss Inventors

Gender:Male, Born in:Years 1930 to 1969

By category

1957 births

comments so far.
Comments
From our partners
Sponsored
Credits
References and sources
https://archive.today/20080205132101/http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front%3Fpagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1166536150628
http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front%3Fpagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1166536150628
https://web.archive.org/web/20111130164150/https://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/epi/programs/ms.html
http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/epi/programs/ms.html
http://www.uihealthcare.org/
http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/resources/CF08B6F8-5068-4BAD-90B4-BC5CBB3CCADD/idisummer2011newsletter.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20120222020515/http://www.fudan.edu.cn/englishnew/medical/medicine.html
http://www.fudan.edu.cn/englishnew/medical/medicine.html
http://www.polyu.edu.hk/cpa/polyu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=54&lang=en
https://doi.org/10.1001%2Farchinte.159.8.821
Didier Pittet
arrow-left arrow-right instagram whatsapp myspace quora soundcloud spotify tumblr vk website youtube pandora tunein iheart itunes