APIC creates ‘Playbooks’ to help fight emerging infectious diseases

Editor's Note

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) announced May 1 that it has created a series of ‘Playbooks’ to help infection preventionists (IPs) and epidemiologists operationalize prevention efforts to help fight emerging infectious diseases.

The pathogen-specific playbooks outline recommended practices for outbreak response, including:

• Pathogen identification and prevention of transmission
• Safe work practices and occupational health
• Patient care considerations and discharge
• Outreach to healthcare stakeholders.

Infectious disease experts were asked to develop the playbooks so that IPs and epidemiologists would have an advantage for future threats and not have a repeat of the COVID-19 experience during which there were no standard instructions, says APIC 2023 president, Patricia Jackson, MA, BSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC.

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