Infection Preventionists Call for Recognition, Balance, and Collaboration

In this installment of the conversation with Infection Control Today^®(ICT^®), authors of the study, “Quantifying the Progressing Landscape of Infection Preventionists: A Survey-Based Analysis of Workload and Resource Needs” shared the key takeaways from their study.

The authors are Brenna Doran, PhD, MA, who specializes in hospital epidemiology and infection prevention at the University of California, San Francisco, and is a coach and consultant in infection prevention; Jessica Swain, MBA, MLT, director of infection prevention and control at Dartmouth Health in Lebanon, New Hampshire; and Shanina Knighton, an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Nursing and senior nurse scientist at MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Infection prevention is one of the cornerstones of patient and staff safety,” the panel emphasized, but too often the professionals behind this work feel unseen. Doran began by stating, “We want IPs to know that we see them, that we really value and recognize their dedication, their passion, their work.”

Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Doran recalled, “We worked days, we worked evenings, we worked weekends, we worked holidays, we were on call. And again, we came together. We coalesced around the same mission.” Yet, long hours were not new. “We were working more hours even before COVID-19 happened. This overarching discordance…we wanted to publish this manuscript to look at how many hours IPs work, the expectations that organizations have, and what our expectations are of each other.”

The consequences of unrelenting workloads are serious. “We’re seeing people leave the IP field…IPs that are leaving due to burnout,” Doran explained. “If your marketing program is you’re going to work 45 [to] 50 hours a week, only get paid 40… It’s going to be really hard to not only keep the IPs that you have but also bring in that fresh generation.”

For leadership, the message is equally clear. Knighton stressed, “Infection prevention is not an expense, it’s an investment. Every dollar spent on preventing infections has a significant impact on treatment costs, legal risk, and reputational damage.” They added, “IPs cannot do it alone…ensuring that we have a hospital-wide culture of infection prevention” is essential.

Swain echoed this, stating, “Although we’re not revenue-generating, we are cost-saving. From the boards all the way down, there needs to be recognition of the impact that your infection preventionist and your infection prevention programs have on your organization as a whole.”