SHEA Offers Online Training Course in Healthcare Epidemiology

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adapted their Training Course in Healthcare Epidemiology to a one-day curriculum that is available online through April 30, 2011. The following activity consists of recordings from training courses that took place in March and October 2009. The curriculum includes case studies supplemented with lectures and seminars covering fundamental aspects of healthcare epidemiology, including outbreak investigation and management; prevention strategies for HAIs; environmental hygiene as well as disinfection and sterilization; isolation precautions; epidemiology and surveillance; antimicrobial stewardship and more.

In 2008, California enacted requirements for training in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control as part of a series of legislation addressing healthcare-associated infections. In response, SHEA and CDC collaborated to derive a concise, one-day curriculum that met the spirit of the state training mandate and provides physicians, infection preventionists and other allied health professionals an overview in basic issues, techniques and resources to implement infection prevention and control in healthcare settings. More recently, federal ARRA funding enabled states to develop action plans and specific programs targeting reduction in healthcare-associated infections. This curriculum offers a basic level of training accessible on-demand to state public health officials and all individuals with infection control responsibility in a variety of healthcare settings.

The objectives of this activity are to:

1. Provide learners with practical knowledge of the key methods and strategies used for infection control surveillance, outbreak investigation and management, and sterilization and disinfection (environmental hygiene).

. Review examples of evidence-based recommendations for the prevention of healthcare-associated infections derived from the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the SHEA/IDSA Compendium of Practical Strategies for Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Settings, and discuss strategies for implementation.

3. Provide information and resources to implement prevention programs that address both common HAIs as well as emerging multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), effective isolation and hand hygiene strategies, antimicrobial stewardship programs, and effective infection control oversight.

This course is designed for:

- Fellows seeking basic training in hospital epidemiology

- Hospital epidemiologists

- Infection control chairs

- Infectious diseases physicians

- Infection preventionists

- Microbiologists

- Public health officials

- Other healthcare providers seeking knowledge in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention.

Estimated time to complete the activity is eight hours. Registration rates are $149 for SHEA members/fellows and $199 for non-members.

For more information, contact Jane Radford, MHA, CCMEP, senior education manager, at (703) 740-4799 or send an email to: jradford@shea-online.org