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Understanding the current state of infection preventionists through competency, role, and activity self-assessment
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Understanding the current state of infection preventionists through competency, role, and activity self-assessment

Ericka L. Kalp, James F. Marx and James Davis
American journal of infection control, v 45(6), pp 589-596
01 Jun 2017
PMID: 28549510
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2017.03.021View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Restricted

Abstract

Infectious Diseases Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Science & Technology
Background: The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) MegaSurvey, administered in 2015, was completed by approximately 4,079 APIC members. The survey sought to gain a better understanding the current state of 4 components of infection prevention practice: demographic characteristics, compensation, organizational structure, and practice and competency. Methods: The data for this analysis come from the APIC MegaSurvey Practice and Competency domain. Descriptive statistics and.2 analyses were conducted to examine differences in infection preventionist (IP) competency, roles, and activity self-assessments. Results: The majority of IPs self-assessed their competency as Proficient compared with Novice or Expert for each of the 8 IP core competency activities. Forty percent of IPs self-rated their competency as Expert in the Preventing/Controlling the Transmission of Infectious Agents/HAIs component. IPs reported Novice competency in Employee/Occupational Health (29%); Cleaning, Sterilization, Disinfection, and Asepsis (23%); and Education and Research categories (22%). Differences in self-rated competency among IPs by discipline type (public health, nurse, and laboratory) were identified. Conclusions: Differences in self-rated competency were identified for each of the 8 IP core competency activities. IPs report using various resource types to gain competency. Future research is needed to identify opportunities to increase competency levels in the weakest-rated competency activities. (C) 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Web of Science research areas
Infectious Diseases
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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