APIC Offers Ambulatory Care Infection Prevention Resources

In an effort to help outpatient care facilities develop and maintain infection prevention programs, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) announces a comprehensive set of resources for ambulatory care.

The centerpiece of the program will be a two-day conference planned for fall 2009 on infection prevention in ambulatory care designed to help outpatient surgery centers meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revised conditions for coverage. CMS now requires that ambulatory surgery centers maintain an ongoing program to prevent infections and communicable diseases and that they document the implementation of nationally recognized infection control guidelines.

Additional components of APIC’s ambulatory care resources include:

• An at-your-desk learning series focusing on the prevention of surgical site infections

• APIC’s infection prevention text

• Quarterly newsletters on preventing infection in ambulatory care

• “Education for the Prevention of Infection (EPI)” training courses

• Infection prevention manual for ambulatory care

• Resources on disinfection and sterilization

• Webinars on a range of infection prevention topics

• Training to prepare for ambulatory surgical center inspections

“We are concerned by continued reports of insufficient infection prevention efforts and oversight in outpatient settings,” says Sue Barnes, RN, CIC, national leader of infection prevention for Kaiser Permanente and leader of APIC’s efforts to develop these new resources. “Too many errors have occurred in the past due to lack of education and oversight. As the nation’s largest infection prevention organization, APIC can provide the training needed to ensure that healthcare personnel in outpatient facilities can consistently adhere to infection prevention measures, and can provide oversight in the absence of a dedicated infection preventionist. Now that the federal government has stepped up requirements for infection prevention in ambulatory care, facilities will have more incentive to implement effective programs.”