The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide training, educational resources and expert guidance for healthcare epidemiologists to respond to infectious disease outbreaks in healthcare facilities. The two-year, CDC-funded project will capitalize on the leadership role that healthcare epidemiologists play during infectious disease events in healthcare facilities.
“Healthcare epidemiologists are key to preventing and controlling the spread of viruses and emerging drug-resistant bacteria in hospitals,” said Louise Dembry, MD, MS, MBA, FSHEA, president of the SHEA board of trustees. “With this partnership, SHEA has the opportunity to improve national pandemic and outbreak preparedness and overall patient safety by ensuring healthcare epidemiologists have the tools to effectively prepare for and control an outbreak of any magnitude.”
The educational resources developed as part of this project will be made available to the broad infection prevention community within acute care hospitals, and will be directly targeted to healthcare epidemiologists and medical directors of infection prevention to ensure these frontline professionals are well-equipped to lead efforts. SHEA has appointed key experts to serve on the technical consulting board. These leading infection prevention clinicians will develop metrics for the diverse programming.
In addition to the technical consulting board, these efforts will be guided by an education panel and expert guidance panel to ensure all aspects of the contract receive input from clinicians practicing within different hospital settings.
“Healthcare epidemiologists serve as disease detectives in hospitals and other medical facilities. By teaming up with SHEA, we will ensure that these critical staff have the information and technical assistance they need to effectively investigate infections, stop outbreaks, and protect patients,” said Denise Cardo, MD, director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at CDC.
More information and training materials, as well as a full list of volunteers working on this effort, will be available on the SHEA Website at http://www.shea-online.org/priority-topics/ortp/. The materials developed will be available and free to all in the healthcare community.
Source: SHEA
CDC Urges Vigilance: New Recommendations for Monitoring and Testing H5N1 Exposures
July 11th 2025With avian influenza A(H5N1) infections surfacing in both animals and humans, the CDC has issued updated guidance calling for aggressive monitoring and targeted testing to contain the virus and protect public health.
IP LifeLine: Layoffs and the Evolving Job Market Landscape for Infection Preventionists
July 11th 2025Infection preventionists, once hailed as indispensable during the pandemic, now face a sobering reality: budget pressures, hiring freezes, and layoffs are reshaping the field, leaving many IPs worried about their future and questioning their value within health care organizations.
A Helping Hand: Innovative Approaches to Expanding Hand Hygiene Programs in Acute Care Settings
July 9th 2025Who knew candy, UV lights, and a college kid in scrubs could double hand hygiene adherence? A Pennsylvania hospital’s creative shake-up of its infection prevention program shows that sometimes it takes more than soap to get hands clean—and keep them that way.