Table 2.

Current state of infection prevention education, knowledge, and the profession

Issues affecting infection prevention in emergency management
•Increasing demand for more infection preventionists to cover current workloads
•No easily identified pipeline/method to find/recruit new infection preventionists
•Increased reporting requirements will consume more of infection preventionists’ time
•Need for more infection preventionists with a microbiology background/education
•Infection prevention not recognized as a profession
•Lack of licensure or certification requirements in most states
•No incentive for infection preventionists to become CIC∗
•Little or no infection prevention content provided in nursing, medicine, or public health curricula
•Infection preventionists considered hospital workers/experts only

^∗CIC: Certification in Infection Control and Epidemiology.