The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology has released the organization's public policy agenda for the coming year.
APIC consists of 15,000 members working in infection prevention in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The annual policy priority update is designed to serve the organization's overarching goal of improving patient safety by: promoting scientific research into infection prevention, developing competencies and certifications in infection prevention, advocating for legislation to bolster infection control and promoting the creation and use of standardized data to reduce hospital-associated infections.
Here are three things to know about APIC's public policy priorities for 2017.
1. Preparing for emerging infectious diseases: With more emerging viruses like Ebola and Zika likely on the horizon, these emerging pathogens may exhaust the current capabilities of preventionists staffed at U.S. hospitals. An APIC survey found that 50 percent of hospitals had one or less than one full-time equivalent infection preventionist on staff. For this reason, APIC will advocate for proper personnel staffing and training among preventionists to ensure hospitals are prepared to face down potential future public health crises related to infectious disease in 2017.
2. Eliminating HAIs: HAIs continue to put patients in harm's way and produce significant fiscal burdens for hospitals. To promote the elimination of HAIs, APIC will support financial incentives linked to the implementation of effective HAI-reduction strategies, advocate for evidence-based practices proven to hinder HAI prevalence and push for the collection of data to establish prevention effort targets, among other efforts.
3. Curbing antibiotic resistance: In 2016, infection preventionists assisted in several outbreak investigations for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, otherwise known as "nightmare bacteria" due to its resistance to last-resort antibiotics. The rise of antibiotic resistance is a mounting threat to humans. To mitigate its progression, APIC will support efforts to educate the public and providers about the spread of resistance, reinforce the judicious use of antibiotics in livestock and promote stewardship programs in hospitals, in addition to other initiatives.
To read APIC's full public policy agenda for 2017, click here.
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