Elizabeth Wardle1
1The Wesley Hospital
Biography:
Elizabeth Wardle is the Clinical Nurse Manager of Infection Prevention & Control at The Wesley Hospital in Brisbane & managed their endoscopy department for 9 years prior to changing roles. Beth has actively worked in the gastroenterology sector for over 30 years. She has also been committed to the Gastroenterological Nurses College of Australasia (GENCA) community, holding positions such as the Queensland Regional Manager, the GENCA Vice President, the Editor of the J. GENCA Journal and she was the GENCA President from 2008 to 2011. Awarded lifetime membership to GENCA in 2025 in recognition of her commitment to the advancement of education for gastroenterology nurses and infection prevention control, and her outstanding contribution to GENCA since 2000.
Beth has been a contributing author of Infection Prevention and Control in Endoscopy since 2002, as well as working on subsequent updates. Beth is the current GENCA representative on the Australian Standards HE-023 committee responsible for AS5369 and is passionate about advancements to gastroenterology. She completed the Graduate Certificate in Infection Control at Griffith University this year.
Abstract:
The GESA & GENCA document Infection Prevention & Control in Endoscopy guideline continues to provide guidance to endoscopy services across the country on all aspects of infection prevention and control in endoscopy. The 2025 edition supersedes the 2021 document and was developed in collaboration with representatives from Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, The Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control and the Federation of Sterilizing Research Advisory Councils of Australia.
This presentation will outline the changes made to the document from the 2021 version and discuss some of the reasoning behind them.