Infection preventionists' current and preferred training strategies and tools.

Background: Educating health care staff on infection prevention and control (IPC) is an essential role of infection preventionists (IPs), but the COVID-19 pandemic diverted resources away from IPC education.

Methods: Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology members were invited to complete an online survey from spring 2023 to assess current and preferred approaches and tools for training health care personnel on IPC. Vendors, retirees, APIC staff, or those not working in health care or public health were excluded.

Utility of child physical characteristics and verbal descriptors to aid in family reunification during disasters.

Objective: To identify physical and verbal descriptors that have the highest concordance between parents/guardians and a research team member to improve reunification during a disaster when a child arrives at the emergency department separated from their family.

Methods: Parent and child pairs were recruited between February 2020 and March 2020. Each parent and research team member simultaneously recorded the child's physical characteristics and clothing items.

Challenges in managing, sustaining, and assessing closed point of dispensing sites: Findings from a qualitative study.

Most U.S. public health agencies rely upon closed points of dispensing (PODs) to aid in medical countermeasure (MCM) distribution.

Rural infection preventionists' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from focus groups conducted with association of professionals in infection control & epidemiology (APIC) members.

Background: SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was identified and quickly developed into a pandemic in spring, 2020. This event posed immense difficulties for healthcare nationally, with rural areas experiencing different challenges than other regions.

Methods: The Association of Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology conducted focus groups with infection preventionist (IP) members in September and October, 2020.

Infection preventionists' experiences during the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from focus groups conducted with Association of Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology (APIC) members.

Introduction: A novel human Coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) was identified in January, 2020 and developed into a pandemic by March, 2020. This rapid, enormous, and unanticipated event had major implications for healthcare. Infection preventionists (IP) have a critical role in worker and patient safety.

Approaches, Successes, and Challenges in Recruiting Closed Points of Dispensing Sites: A Qualitative Study.

Closed points of dispensing (PODs) are an essential component of local public health preparedness programs because most local public health agencies lack the infrastructure to distribute medical countermeasures to all community members in a short period of time through open PODs alone. However, no study has examined closed POD recruitment strategies or approaches to determine best practices, such as how to select or recruit an agency, group, or business to become a closed POD site once a potential partner has been identified. We conducted qualitative interviews with US disaster planners to identify their approaches and challenges to recruiting closed POD sites.