title: Advancing the competency of infection preventionists.
abstract: The Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has identified advancing infection prevention competency as a core goal in their Strategic Plan 2020. To achieve this goal, APIC has published a self-assessment tool to help infection preventionists identify where they are on a predefined scale. This project trialed APIC's self-assessment tool along with an internally developed objective assessment. The objective was to determine if the tools help identify areas for improvement to advance overall group competency at BJC HealthCare, a large Midwestern health care system with nearly 30 infection preventionists.
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Excellence, BJC HealthCare, St Louis, MO. Electronic address: kag9373@bjc.org.
authors.forename: Kathleen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Gase
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Excellence, BJC HealthCare, St Louis, MO.
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Excellence, BJC HealthCare, St Louis, MO.
authors.forename: Raya
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO.
authors.forename: Hilary M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Babcock
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011361:Professional Competence; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology; Competency; Education; Infection prevention