The CDC and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America have partnered on a CDC-funded project to create training and educational resources for healthcare epidemiologists who need to respond to infectious disease outbreaks in healthcare settings.
Any resources developed as part of the project will be made available to the infection prevention community. They will be targeted specifically for epidemiologists and medical directors of infection prevention in hospitals.
SHEA named key experts to a consulting board to develop metrics for the resources.
"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," said Louise Dembry, MD, president of the SHEA board of trustees.
Denise Cardo, MD, director of the CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, added, "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."