Heather Stoltzfus, MPH, RN, CIC

Plague doctors' historical attire was an early form of PPE. While modern PPE has improved, the quest for better, more comfortable protection continues as we aim for a future where health care workers can provide care confidently.

Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens of clinical importance in health care facilities today.

Connecting and networking with colleagues, finding the right resources, and joining key organizations can help you become a better infection preventionist.

"If we want to influence our health care workers toward a shift in practice, we must first tackle the core beliefs that drive that behavior," writes Heather Saunders, MPH, RN, CIC.

Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens of clinical importance in health care facilities today.

No matter the background, the complex career of preventing and controlling infections has unique joys and challenges.

Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens of clinical importance in health care facilities today.

Experts in infection prevention review PPE standardization practices and Heather Saunders, MPH, RN provides her key takeaways for other healthcare practitioners on best practices related to PPE.

Isis Lamphier, MPH, CIC, reviews PPE considerations relating to surgical smoke and Tracy Field, RN, WCC, LALD, LTC- CIP shares her thoughts on the universality of masks and other protective equipment for transmissible viruses.

Infection preventionists, Heather Saunders, MPH, RN, CIC; Tracy Field, RN, WCC, LALD, LTC- CIP; and Isis Lamphier, MPH, CIC provide their thoughts on the best approaches regarding the removal of contaminated PPE.

Experts in infection prevention discuss PPE quality and highlight considerations relating to assessing appropriate levels of PPE contamination.

Heather Saunders, MPH, RN, CIC; Tracy Field, RN, WCC, LALD, LTC- CIP; and Isis Lamphier, MPH, CIC, review CDC, OSHEA, NIOSH, and American Society of Testing and Materials guidelines to selecting PPE and best practices for donning and doffing PPE.

Learn from your mistakes; reach for the stars. We all have learning to do. Just don't quit!

Experts in infection prevention discuss how PPE protects both the wearer and others, and how a well-fitting mask ensures high protection from germs and other infectious substances.

Heather Saunders, MPH, RN, CIC; Tracy Field, RN, WCC, LALD, LTC- CIP; and Isis Lamphier, MPH, CIC, review the articles considered as personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gowns, and gloves.

Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens of clinical importance in health care facilities today.

Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens of clinical importance in health care facilities today.

How should health care workers, especially infection preventionists, give constructive criticism in their positions?

Heather Saunders, MPH, RN, CIC, introduces an upcoming panel discussion surrounding several topics pertaining to the considerations and clinical implications of personal protective equipment in the healthcare environment, focusing on overarching guidelines and optimal practices.

Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens of clinical importance in health care facilities today.

"Although we have numerous strategies for improving prevention and control in our facilities," Heather Saunders, MPH, RN, CIC, in her third and final of 3 series on the 3'Cs of how to be a successful IP. "All too often these strategies fall short of succeeding." Why? Lack of collaboration. Read on to see how IPs can use the 3 C's to be more successful IPs.

How infection preventionists communicate with those individuals with whom they interact is a tightrope of how to do it well and effectively. Read this article from readers' favorite, Heather Saunders, MPH, RN, CIC, to find out how to not fall off that tightrope in her second of 3 series on the 3'Cs of how to be a successful IP.

You spend a great deal of time in your job telling individuals what you need them to do to prevent and control infections. They may hear you, but are they listening?

Read about a lady with white hair, being human, and how infection prevention needs to transform.

If we want to see sustained improvements in our hospitals, administrators must step in and visibly show their support of IPs while investing their time, resources, and hospital funding to increase the capacity of the IPC department.

With seemingly reckless abandon, we are quickly headed toward an era in which the antibiotics we once used to treat infection will be rendered ineffective.