Surveillance and Epidemiologic Investigations for Infection Prevention and Control Professionals

The course is fundamental to a successful infection prevention and public health career. Surveillance is a comprehensive method of measuring outcomes and related processes of care, analyzing the data, and providing information to members of the healthcare team to assist in improving those outcomes and processes. The course introduces students to core concepts in surveillance and epidemiologic investigation to further learning in the public health field and the infection prevention field. Students will learn about the basis of surveillance in the hospital and the public health environments and be exposed to the hospital acquired infection types caused by urinary catheters and central lines. Topics covered in this course include surveillance of hospital acquired infections of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI), Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI), utilizing the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions, review of outbreak investigation and applications and an understanding of key terms and their applications in presenting data.