APIC New England Chapter Newsletter

APIC NEws

Chapter Membership

Full APIC NE chapter members receive regular newsletters, are eligible to vote and run for board positions, are eligible to submit presentations for the Shirley Bradley Award, can be selected for a trip to APIC's national conference, and receive reduced rates to chapter conferences. To access these benefits, add our chapter to your membership when it's time to renew, or at anytime.

Fall Conference Recap: A Spectrum of Opportunities

We had a great conference in Springfield, with a full agenda of speakers covering topics from global health, construction, high level disinfection, and C.diff to long term care to our own Shirley Bradley award winners. The vendors offered product demonstrations and sponsored a few giveaways. Attendees tried their luck at Pin the Tail on the E.coli, Spin the Wheel, and PPE Donning and Doffing. A big thank you to the speakers, vendors, and all the attendees for making this a successful conference.

We are always considering different ways to provide meaningful education and networking to our members. We'd appreciate hearing your opinions: A survey was sent to members this week. Please take a moment to complete it.

Board of Directors

We are pleased to welcome new board members for 2023

Nominating and Awards Director-Elect: Erin Patnode, RN, BSN

Program Director-Elect: Morgan Kuhnly, RN, MSN, CIC

Chapter Legislative Representative: Rose Wiedmer, RN , BSN

Positions open for 2024 are: CLICK here for position over view

Secretary/Membership

Program Director Elect

Nominating and Awards Direct-Elect

President-Elect

Elections are held in August. Submit your Willingness to Serve form in the Spring of 2023

Education

There are a number of conferences coming up soon.

APIC Greater NY Chapter

October 22, 2022

Virtual

IPCSNE

November 2, 2022

Warwick, RI

APIC CDS Conference

November 10-11, 2022

Boston or Virtual

Shirley Bradley Memorial Innovation Award 2022

We get amazing project submissions from our member IPs for the SBMIA every year. This year, Mary Ellen Scales, MSN, RN, CIC FAPIC (left) from Baystate Health was the winner, with her work on developing a risk mitigation guidance tool for Covid-19.

Runner up was Morgan Kuhnly, MSN, RN, CIC (left) of Dartmouth Hitchcock for her work using a QR code to assist staff in documenting hand hygiene observations. (Morgan was also quoted in HPN Magazine this month, regarding the importance of direct observation in hand hygiene).

Thank you to all the IP's that submitted an application for SBMIA for 2022. We look forward to all the innovative ideas for 2023.

Certification

Recently, APIC New England was able to join the Chapter Certification Support Program, hosted by APIC National. This program helps local chapters form study groups to prepare members for certification. This enhanced iteration of 2021's inaugural program provides participants with exam prep materials and inter-chapter virtual study groups, as well as access to the online CIC study community for increased connection and ongoing support. Chapter President-elect Nancy Dupont is coordinating the program for our chapter as well as leading some study sessions. We filled our seats with 10 members who are planning to take their CIC before the end of the year. Good luck!

If you are interested in forming a study group with other chapter members, you can put a notice on the chapter Community page, or email [email protected], and we will try to connect interested people with each other.

Legislative News

You can find the latest Infection Prevention-related legislative bills for New England in the report here.

Click the links in the report to see which of your local elected officials are sponsoring a bill, and where it is in committee process. You can support APIC initiatives by calling or writing to officials in your home district.

Growing the Profession

What are our members doing to encourage and support new professionals in Infection Prevention? Maria Gomes of Lifespan in RI submitted the following:

IPAs...Future Infection Preventionists in Training

In the midst of the pandemic, the Lifespan Infection Control Department, like many other departments, experienced a shortage of staff. Kerry Blanchard, BS, CIC, Lifespan System Director of Infection Prevention swiftly put a plan into action.

In January 2021, Lifespan Infection Control grew with the creation of 3 Infection Prevention Associate (IPA) positions.

The IPA position is an entry level Infection Preventionist (IP) position. It was created to remove the burden of surveillance from the IP, assist with recruitment and retention in the IP department, create a position that allows easier entry into the field, and define a clinical ladder within the department. The IPA position aligns with the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) infection prevention roadmap, and Certification Board of Infection Control (CBIC) through the a-IPC certification. IPAs absorb the entry level workload of IPs. They are responsible for daily screening of system-wide surveillance data, monitoring isolation precautions, identifying potential outbreaks, and notifying the Department of Health of reportable diseases. IPAs work in concert with the IPs by detecting potential laboratory results that require further investigation, as well as any urgent infection control concerns. During a time of limited resources, the creation of this role also provided the department with additional FTEs.

Stay up to date on what's happening in the Chapter

We post education and event announcements on our Facebook page.
We share relevant infection prevention, infectious disease, and public health news on our Twitter account.
Check our website at apicne.org for conference information and upcoming events in the New England area.

To contact us at anytime, email [email protected]