Key Objectives:
- Share lessons learned and promising practices from the Lessons in INfection Control (LINC) initiative, a demonstration project enabling local health departments to improve infection control, preparedness, and response to Ebola, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), and other infectious disease threats
- Identify strategies such as table top exercises, assessments, healthcare facility inventories, and tools/templates implemented by demonstration sites, that have been the most successful in advancing local public health’s prevention, preparedness, readiness, and response efforts for outbreaks of Ebola, HAIs, and other infectious disease threats
- Increase participants’ understanding of how local health departments are involved in prevention, preparedness, readiness, and response efforts for infections that spread across healthcare and community settings
Brief Summary:
The response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa and cases in the United States revealed critical needs and opportunities to improve infection control and enhance coordination for preparedness and response efforts across the nation. At the same time, health departments continue to face challenges with outbreaks of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), particularly in ambulatory and long-term care settings. The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is working with local health departments to improve infection control, preparedness, and response through the Lessons in INfection Control (LINC) Initiative. The LINC Initiative is a demonstration project that aims to improve both healthcare and community infection control and enhance coordination for preparing and responding to Ebola, HAIs, and other emerging infectious diseases through strengthening local public health organizational and administrative capacity, expertise, and partnerships with key stakeholders. This roundtable session will feature local health departments’ experiences and lessons learned through the LINC Initiative and similar opportunities to address Ebola, HAIs, and other infectious diseases. During the session, participants will present infection control resources, share experiences in compiling inventories of healthcare facilities and implementing tabletop exercises, provide feedback on an HAI guidance document, discuss Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) activities, and identify persisting gaps that stakeholders can address to improve infection control. This conversation will provide an opportunity for health department representatives and other stakeholders combatting communicable disease threats to work collaboratively and share useful approaches to strengthen capacity and partnerships for infection prevention, control, preparedness, and response.