Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) infectious diseases fellow infection prevention and control and healthcare epidemiology curriculum

With the rapid expansion of the Infection Prevention Control/Healthcare Epidemiology (IPC/HE) fields over recent decades, the pivotal roles of IPC/HE in hospital regulation, quality improvement, patient safety, and healthcare finances have become increasingly apparent. Consequently, the demand for effective IPC/HE leaders has surged.^1,2 Training in IPC/HE is essential for all infectious diseases (ID) fellows (both adult and pediatric), including those planning a career in hospital epidemiology as well as those planning to focus on general ID, transplant, HIV, etc. ID fellows, however, have historically felt ill-prepared in IPC/HE. Joiner et al's survey highlighted this gap, revealing that only half of respondents felt adequately trained in infection control, despite half of them participating in infection control in their practice.³ IPC/HE fellow education is not currently standardized, and most IPC/HE training is led by individual mentors and healthcare facilities.