title: The infection control practitioner: an action plan for the 1990s.
abstract: Some articles have suggested that to survive in the 1990s an infection control practitioner (ICP) will have to be "smarter, brighter, or gone"--they assume that new initiatives for hospital peer review (utilization review, risk management, antibiotic use review, and quality assurance) soon will swallow up the ICP and the infection control program. This article questions that assumption. It reviews data supporting the continuing need for hospital infection control programs and presents information suggesting that the need for the ICP will increase rather than decline during the 1990s. Four essential characteristics for infection control programs are listed, and skills that make the ICP a valuable resource for other peer review programs are described. Several ways that the ICP can (and must) bring this information to the attention of other hospital personnel are suggested. Such actions help assure recognition of the continuing important role of the ICP and the hospital infection control program in each U.S. hospital and long-term care institution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: McGowan
mesh_terms: D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000639:trends*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000592:standards; D005544:Forecasting; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000592:standards*; D006739:Hospital Administration; D006801:Humans; D010380:Peer Review; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States