American Journal of Infection Control 43 (2015) 1027

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

American Journal of Infection Control

American Journal of
Infection Control

journal homepage: www.ajicjournal.org

Message from APIC

ENGAGE! Infection prevention is everyones job

Each of us has an important role to play in keeping patients

safe from infection. During the third week of October, infection
preventionists (IPs) take time out of their already busy schedules to
celebrate International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW) to raise
awareness of the role infection prevention plays in improving patient safety. So mark your calendars for IIPW, October 18-24 (http://
professionals.site.apic.org/the-week-iipw/).
This year during IIPW, APIC wants to help patients and care
providers talk to each other about infection prevention. Promoting
engagement between patients, visitors, and healthcare professionals around infection prevention is the 2015 theme. Because
hand hygiene is one of the most direct ways to begin a conversation
about infection prevention, the APIC Communication Committee
and staff have created some simple slogans and materials on this
topic to help get the dialog started. APIC members and others may
purchase or download artwork to print a variety of stickers and
iers with the following three messages:
 Clean hands stop germs. Ask us if we washed.
 Clean hands stop germs. Ask how you can help.
 Clean hands stop germs. Ask if you have questions.
All three slogans will be available in multiple layouts and sizes
so you can use whichever is most suitable for your facility. We
encourage you to place the materials in patient admission packets,
patient rooms, on tissue boxes, and even on the bathroom mirror.
We hope the new materials will be helpful in your efforts to
encourage patients to speak up with questions or concerns. We

would love your feedback on how useful they were to you, for
example, how did you use the materials? Did they help patients feel
more at ease asking if hand hygiene had been performed? Was staff
more open to questions from patients? What are your challenges in
encouraging patients to speak up? We will use your feedback to
develop more resources in the coming year.
Infection prevention starts with me. Do you pledge to protect
your patients and yourself from infections and foster a culture of
safety? New as well for IIPW, are two online pledges developed by
APIC for healthcare professionals and patients/families to use as a
public display of advocacy for infection prevention. We invite you
to sign the pledge and share it through social media with your
colleagues, friends, and family. Help us make the pledge go viral.
What germ are you? Lighten up your day by taking our quiz to
nd out what germ best matches your personality. Brighten a colleagues day with an infection prevention eCard to thank them for
washing their hands (for the 100th time). Just like the number of u
vaccines available, there is no shortage of fun, interactive activities
from APIC to help you mark IIPW this year. Do you know the ABCs
of antibiotics? Take our 10-question quiz to prove it, then host a
little friendly competition with your friends and colleagues. We
hope your Facebook page lights up with comments, likes, and
shares when you post your score!
Explore the updated Infection Prevention and You websites.
The APIC Communications Committee works diligently throughout
the year to update these pages with new information and tools you
can use for both consumer and healthcare professional audiences
during IIPW and throughout the year. Check out the free resources
at: www.apic.org/InfectionPreventionAndYou and http://profess
ionals.site.apic.org/the-week-iipw/
How do you celebrate IIPW? We want to hear from you!
Connect with us on social media. Like us on Facebook (facebook.
com/APICInfectionPreventionandYou) and follow us on Twitter
(twitter.com/APIC) for the most up-to-date news and IIPW activities. Tag us in the pictures of your facility celebrations, and post
your IIPW activities to IP Talk to join the conversation.

0196-6553/$36.00 - 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2015.08.010