IP LifeLine: Resilience as an Ongoing Journey, Not a Destination

IP LifeLine From Infection Control Today

The rug has been pulled out from under us. The gutting of public health funding and the dismantling of infection prevention infrastructure feels like a bewildering unraveling of the very fabric of our work. For those of us who have poured our hearts and careers into this crucial calling, the changes feel eerily reminiscent of those first, terrifying months of COVID-19—the unthinkable visitor bans for dying patients, the desperate protocols for reusing single-use N95 masks. The daily conversations with our infectious disease doctors, reaching out to infection preventionists (IPs) at other hospitals to see what they are doing and how they are holding up, all echo the same sentiment: How do we find our footing in this new landscape?

Many of us still look back and wonder how we persevered through that unprecedented crisis, juggling immense uncertainty for our families and livelihoods while steadfastly showing up for our patients. Again, we are facing an unimaginable reality that strikes at the very core of public health, dismantling the infrastructure and the backbone of infection prevention. Daily, we are inundated with social media posts and communication from our friends and colleagues about how these administrative shifts impact their lives.

What resonates deeply during this challenging period is the concept of resilience, defined as the ability to adapt well to adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress. ¹ Resilience isn't simply about bouncing back: It's a dynamic process of navigating difficulty. Reflecting on the past 5 years, I cannot help but wonder if resilience is less of a destination and more of a process. As we grapple with the current landscape, cultivating resilience feels less like an academic exercise and more like an essential survival skill. Let’s explore practical tips and tricks to help you identify and cultivate your resilience.

A determined infection preventionist is walking into a busy facility.

(AI image created by author)

In these turbulent times, the ability to not just survive but thrive hinges on our resilience. Defined as the capacity to adapt well to adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress,¹ resilience isn't simply bouncing back; it's a dynamic process of navigating difficulty. Reflecting on the past 5 years, it’s clear that resilience isless a destination and more an ongoing journey. As we grapple with the current landscape, cultivating resilience feels less like an academic exercise and more like an essential survival skill. Let’s explore practical tips and tricks to help you identify and cultivate your resilience.

The Art of Being Cognitively Flexible

IPs inherently possess this skill, as their role fundamentally relies on assessing situations through the lens of best practice while remaining attuned to the practical needs of their facility, partners, and stakeholders. When new data emerges or best practice guidance changes, they pause to review and reevaluate our current understanding and protocols. When faced with obstacles or ineffective strategies, they dedicate time to brainstorming alternative approaches, fostering a creative problem-solving mindset. A vital component of their success is the ability to challenge underlying assumptions by working with partners to understand their perspectives and needs. You routinely consider the rationale behind best practices while embracing the need to pivot in our ever-evolving health care landscape. This inherent cognitive flexibility, honed through adapting guidelines, will be crucial in finding innovative solutions with reduced resources and shifting priorities.

IPs accomplish this by actively nurturing a growth mindset by learning from their successes and failures, by reflecting on what they did well and the growth opportunities. Failures or errors are simply a chance for professional and personal growth. Cultivating cognitive flexibility empowers them to continuously seek new information and ideas while considering evolving circumstances, leading to a continuously improving and safer healthcare environment for all.

For instance, you expertly adapt best practice recommendations and guidelines to the specific context of your health care facility, considering its unique resources, physical layout, patient population, and staffing levels. This involves strong relationships and ongoing dialogue to ensure feasibility and buy-in. Similarly, as regulations and accreditation standards change, you nimbly understand these shifts, re-evaluate programs, and implement necessary modifications while communicating updates. This very skill of adapting and problem-solving is a form of resilience you already possess.

Balancing Behavioral Adaptability with Emotional Regulation:

IPs navigate a dynamic and often emotionally charged health care environment where their effectiveness depends on behavioral adaptability. This allows you to adjust approaches and actions in response to evolving situations seamlessly. This adaptability is accomplished through clear and transparent communication, fostering collaboration, and employing adept problem-solving. By openly sharing information and actively seeking input, you build trust and facilitate smoother implementation of necessary changes, even when those changes are difficult. Your collaborative nature allows you to work effectively with diverse teams, recognizing the value of each member's perspective in achieving shared goals. When faced with obstacles, your problem-solving skills enable you to conduct critical analysis and devise innovative solutions. This adaptability will be vital in navigating new roles, responsibilities, and potentially strained relationships in the current climate.

Simultaneously, the daily challenges – the pressure to reduce infection rates, address protocol resistance, and sometimes feeling like the "enforcer" – can take a significant emotional toll, now potentially amplified by feelings of uncertainty and loss for the profession. Consequently, the ability to cultivate emotional regulation is vital. Practices such as cultivating mindfulness to remain present and grounded, actively seeking social support from colleagues and mentors (sharing challenges and strategies), and prioritizing consistent self-care activities (even a 5-minute mindfulness break between tasks) are essential tools for IPs. Prioritizing their well-being is vital for your sustained effectiveness in the critical role of safeguarding patient safety.

For example, you seamlessly integrate with multidisciplinary teams during a critical outbreak, clearly communicating necessary steps and risks while tailoring your approach to each audience. This nuanced ability to adapt your behavior and communication to emotionally charged situations is a testament to your inherent adaptability and a key component of your resilience.

Resilience as an Ongoing Journey, Not a Destination

The idea of resilience, while often framed as a desirable endpoint, a state of being where one has made a “comeback”, more accurately reflects a journey rather than a set destination. It's not a short sprint; we run and call it a day, but it is more like an ultramarathon across dynamic terrain and variable weather.Each step we take forward requires a flexible mindset and an awareness that there will be moments when you must dig deep to get through because you know you can do it. Consider the very nature of our professional landscape: in the last 5 years, we have endured a historical pandemic and have undergone unprecedented changes to our public health infrastructure. The resilience we summoned during the height of the pandemic and the fortitude we are now tapping into amidst systemic shifts are not finite resources to be depleted or achievements to be rested upon. Instead, they are capacities actively cultivated and honed, much like any other essential skill in our toolkit, or a good pair of running shoes.

Each challenge we navigate, each setback we overcome, doesn't deposit us at a fixed point of "being resilient." Instead, these experiences shape and refine our ability to navigate future storms. The lessons learned, the coping mechanisms developed, and the support systems fortified become integral to our ongoing resilience-building. Think of it like physical fitness: sustained well-being requires consistent effort and adaptation. Similarly, our emotional and psychological resilience necessitates continuous attention, proactive strategies, and a willingness to learn and evolve with each new adversity.

Therefore, viewing resilience as a process, rather than a destination, empowers us to approach challenges with a different mindset. It releases the pressure of achieving a static state of invulnerability and instead encourages a focus on continuously developing our adaptive capacities. It acknowledges that setbacks are not signs of failure but rather integral parts of the journey, offering opportunities for learning and growth. Embracing this perspective enables us to approach the present uncertainties not as an endpoint of our endurance, but as another phase in the ongoing cultivation of our inner strength —a testament to our inherent capacity not just to survive, but to adapt and thrive in the face of persistent change. Let's continue to connect, support each other, and draw upon the resilience already within us.

References

American Psychological Association. Resilience. Published 2025. Accessed April 10, 2025. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience