Infection Control III: Infection Prevention and Control As Mediators.

I recently had the privilege of writing a book review for Bennett and Brachman's Hospital Infections. 1 Jarvis W.R. Bennett and Brachman's hospital infections. 6th ed. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins., Philadelphia (PA)2014 Google Scholar In reading through the text I was impressed by the enumeration of the panoply of activities undertaken by departments responsible for infection prevention and control (IPC). Both from reading the text and in my own observation during actual practice as a hospital epidemiologist, it is clear that the responsibilities of infection preventionists (IPs) toward staff education, protocol development, and data accrual and reporting are multifold and invaluable to the institutions that we serve. Moreover, providing accurate data regarding various surgical site infections, device-related infections, and the incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) and working with colleagues to improve practices is critical to health care systemwide progress toward eliminating device-related infections and MDROs. I have been increasingly impressed by another role that IPs perform that is given little attention, one that perhaps has a great influence on the smooth and safe functioning of health care facilities. The activity of which I write is mediation.