|Videos|July 2, 2020

Q&A: Is There an Infection Preventionist in the House?

Author(s)Frank Diamond

Infection preventionists and their skills will be in high demand in coming years in non-healthcare settings.

Jason Tetro thinks that the demand for infection prevention expertise will grow well beyond the confines of healthcare settings. Tetro, author of the The Germ Code and The Germ Files, and host of the popular podcast series, The Super Awesome Science Show, talks to Infection Control Today® about how private industry and public institutions will need to lean on infection preventionists. Tetro predicts that we’ll see infection preventionists in areas such as food processing, travel conveyances, and even theater or sporting events. And, if not infection preventionists themselves, then people who’ve been trained by infection preventionists. Infection prevention will become as much a part of workplace—and any other place where people gather—as CPR is now. There will at least be someone in the crowd who knows the rudimentary IP skills, and who will also know how to get a certified infection preventionist on the scene pronto.


Related to this article

A group of students raising their hands in class during a lecture  (Adobe Stock 292282454 by Mediteraneo
How do you celebrate an infection that never happened? That's one of the unusual challenges infection preventionists share with teachers. Both can spend their careers changing outcomes they may never see. Both educate people who don't always want to listen. Both are second-guessed. Both face burnout. And both must somehow keep remembering why they started.
Donald Sipp, Jr, MBA, RESE, CHESP, CHTI-2, CMIP, PMP, and David Green  (Image credit: author)
“Cutting” waste shouldn’t mean cutting people. At AHE Exchange26, David Green and Donald Sipp explored how EVS departments can improve performance by strengthening workplace culture, empowering employees, eliminating inefficient processes, and understanding EVS’s critical role in patient throughput. One case study showed bed turnaround times falling from nearly 2 hours to less than an hour, but the larger lesson wasn't simply about speed. High-performing EVS operations begin with a strong foundation.