Table 3.

Potential future directions for the APIC in relation to emergency management

Potential products or roles for the APIC in relation to emergency management
•Develop and provide educational materials to infection preventionists about their role in emergency management, the infectious disease implications of disasters, and strategies to control the spread of disease after a disaster
•Develop and provide educational materials for health care workers, response agency employees, emergency management volunteers, policy makers, and the general public about the infectious disease implications of disasters and strategies to control the spread of disease after a disaster
•Raise awareness among hospital administrators about the need to include IPs in preparedness planning
•Establish and maintain partnerships between the APIC and the key response agencies
•Work with educators to incorporate infection prevention content into nursing, medicine, and public health curricula
•Define zero tolerance for health care-associated infections as it relates to emergency management
•Evaluate and increase health care workers’ compliance with infection prevention practice, using existing core competencies as the basis16
•Work with local APIC chapters on developing a list of emergency management subject matter experts within infection prevention that can serve as a resource in their community
•Consider adding a new leadership position within APIC chapters for an emergency management subject matter expert
•Create a Global Infection Prevention Workforce Group that could mobilize emergency management experts within infection prevention to areas of need throughout the world