Getting Facility Management Certification: Infection Control and Prevention

Understanding how to prevent the spread of infection in your facility isn’t enough in 2024. With new research, best practices, and infection control strategies coming out all the time, your facility must be proactive in setting a standard for health and safety. The best way to ensure regulatory compliance and infection control excellence is to invest in education and facility management certification that will set your hospital and teams up for success. 

Through ongoing training and certification, you can tackle infection control confidently, knowing that your entire team — medical staff, construction crews, and hospital workers — are aligned and working together toward a safer and healthier future. 

Why Should You Consider Infection Control Certifications? 

Certifications in infection-control-related topics validate your expertise, demonstrate a commitment to maintaining a safe healthcare environment, and ensure compliance with even the most strict regulations. When you can prove that you are not only willing to dedicate the time and investment into continued learning, you’re setting the tone for your entire facility to take infection control practices seriously. 

Among other benefits, formalized certifications offer you: 

Enhanced Knowledge and Skills: The process of obtaining and maintaining certification ensures that professionals are up-to-date with the latest practices, technologies, and regulatory requirements.

Professional Recognition: Certifications like CIC and REHS/RS are recognized across health and environmental sectors, showcasing your professional capability and reliability to employers, colleagues, and the public.

Increased Public Trust: Certifications instill confidence among the public and within professional communities. They show that certified individuals and organizations are committed to maintaining the highest health and safety standards.

Connection to a Network of Professionals: Certification opens doors to a network of like-minded professionals. With a certification in infection control, you become connected to a community of individuals and valuable resources to further improve your infection prevention. 

3 Healthcare Certifications You Should Know About

Three of the most popular certifications for healthcare facilities include the Certified Infection Control (CIC) credential, the Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian (REHS/RS) certification, and the Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) certification. Each of these provides specific insights into different areas of safety and compliance that will inform your overall infection control strategy.

1. Certified Infection Control (CIC)

The Certified Infection Control (CIC) credential, administered by the Certification Board in Infection Control (CBIC), is a certification for professionals in the infection prevention field. This certification educates individuals on comprehensive infection prevention practices, encompassing epidemiology, biostatistics, sterilization, sanitation, and disease management across all healthcare environments.

2. Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian (REHS/RS)

Administered by the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), the Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian (REHS/RS) certification is designed to build an understanding of environmental health and safety. This certification program educates professionals on areas such as air and water quality management, food safety, waste disposal, hazardous materials handling, and emergency response strategies.

3. Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) Certification

The Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) certification focuses on ensuring that healthcare facilities can effectively manage infection risks during construction and renovation projects. This certification program educates professionals on assessing infection control risks, implementing appropriate containment measures, and maintaining a safe environment for patients and staff.

Leading Regulatory Authorities in Healthcare 

One of the most critical elements of a certification program is an overview of the regulatory standards put in place by organizations like the CDC, WHO, and other regulatory bodies. Certification programs can help to break down complex standards into understandable lessons to help your facility better align with compliance requirements. 

CDC Guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides comprehensive guidelines for infection control in healthcare settings. These guidelines cover all aspects of infection prevention, including hand hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and environmental cleaning. 

WHO Recommendations

The World Health Organization (WHO) offers recommendations for infection prevention and control that are recognized globally. These recommendations include strategies for preventing the spread of infections, managing outbreaks, and ensuring patient safety.

How to Practically Ensure Safety and Compliance 

Once you’re informed about compliance and safety standards, the key is to implement them effectively and fully across different areas of your facility. This includes everything from wearing proper PPE, purchasing and deploying high-quality equipment, and setting up systems to ensure that you’re compliant with health and safety standards at all times. 

Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 

Wearing the correct PPE to prevent simple transmission of infectious diseases is a small but powerful step that you can take toward a healthier hospital. Gear like masks, gloves, gowns, and face shields should be readily available and used correctly by healthcare workers, construction teams, and hospital staff as dictated by regulatory bodies and training recommendations. 

Employ Equipment to Limit the Spread of Infection

For a more powerful defense against the spread of disease, proper equipment can make a world of difference in how well you and your staff can keep infection at bay. To choose the appropriate machinery, consider your budget, the area of the facility, and the biggest opportunity for the spread of infection. You may find that an anteroom, dust containment cart, negative air pressure machine, air purifier, or disinfection system might best suit your needs. In most facilities, a strategic combination of the list above will set your facility up for success. 

Anterooms

Anterooms act as a transitional space between potentially contaminated areas and clean zones in your facility. With equipment like the HEPACART® AnteRoom, you’re able to protect sensitive areas from infection or prevent highly infected areas from impacting the rest of the facility. When used in conjunction with a negative air machine, AnteRooms become a powerful vestibule between negative or positive air flow areas, meaning that you can keep sensitive patients and staff protected. 

Dust Containment Carts

During construction or renovation projects, dust and debris that are disturbed can become an unexpected risk to everyone inside the facility. While potentially dangerous particles might lay dormant in ceiling panels or inside of walls under normal circumstances, construction activities agitate and launch these particles airborne. Through the use of dust containment carts like the HEPACART® Classic or HEPACART® AutoLift models, you can contain this debris before it has the opportunity to wreak havoc. 

The element that makes these carts particularly effective is the addition of a medical-grade, High-efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filter which offers an incredible 99.99% filtration of particles .03 microns or larger. This means that these carts not only protect from the particles that are visible to the eye but also the more sinister ones that are too small to easily detect. 

Air Purifiers and HEPA Filtration Units

If you need more general filtration and protection from dangerous particles, an air purifier or filtration unit like the HEPAFORCE® GermBuster might be your best bet. Our selection of machinery boasts either traditional HEPA filtration at 99.97% capture at .3 microns in size or medical-grade level HEPA filtration at 99.99% of particles down to .03 microns in size. 

These tools work best in high-risk areas such as patient rooms, operating theaters, and construction zones, and can make a big difference in the risk to patients and staff alike. To make the most of your investment in air purifiers and filtration units, you’ll need to add continual maintenance into your routine, including checking and replacing filters regularly.

Negative Air Pressure Machines

Negative air pressure machines can help control the spread of airborne contaminants by ensuring that air flows only into the room rather than outside of it. This is particularly useful in isolation rooms and during construction activities. With proper installation and calibration, a negative air pressure machine like our HEPAFORCE®AIR Negative Air Machines & Scrubbers can provide significant improvement to your infection control strategy — particularly when paired with an anteroom for an accessible yet sealed space.

It’s critical that your facility management and staff continuously monitor pressure levels to maintain the airflow direction that you intend to create, and that you have backup systems in place to guarantee that your facility can still operate normally in case of any equipment issues or failure. 

UV-C Disinfection Systems

UV-C disinfection systems, like our SmartClean UV-FORCE® machines, use ultraviolet light to inactivate pathogens on surfaces and in the air. These systems are highly effective and can be used in various healthcare settings like patient areas and operating rooms. They effectively reduce surface and airborne pathogens, meaning that harmful pathogens are neutralized before they can become a bigger problem. Disinfection systems like these can also support your cleaning processes by helping a sanitized space stay clean and disease-free for longer. 

Staying Current Means Staying Safe 

It’s simply not enough to take a one-time infection control training or even to be officially certified and stop there. Continuous learning is essential in the field of infection control because infection is constantly changing. New research emerges, best practices are updated, and facilities around the globe are discovering new ways to keep their patients and staff safe. 

Staying current with the latest practices, technologies, and regulatory requirements ensures that your facility can stay at the forefront of health and safety standards, and proves to the community that you truly care about their wellbeing and creating a place that is a refuge to recover from infection and disease.

To do this, you as the facility manager must take practical steps to provide educational opportunities for your staff. A few ways to do this include: 

• Monitor Education Requirements: Meeting Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and ongoing training requirements keeps professionals updated on new research and strategies, ensuring certifications remain valid and enhancing team competency.
• Prioritize Access to Resources: Utilize resources like professional organizations, online courses, webinars, and workshops to stay informed and skilled, with guidelines and updates from the CDC and WHO.
• Stay Updated on Industry Trends: Regularly review industry publications, attend conferences, and join professional networks to stay informed about the latest developments and innovations in infection control.
• Explore Emerging Technologies: Adopt cutting-edge solutions like UV-C disinfection systems and advanced air purifiers to enhance safety and efficiency in infection control practices.
• Keep an Eye on Industry Best Practices: Incorporate proven techniques from industry leaders into your facility’s protocols to reduce infection risks and improve patient outcomes.

By prioritizing ongoing training, education, and the adoption of best practices and emerging technologies, your facility can maintain a proactive and responsive approach to infection control. This commitment ensures that your team is equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to create a safe and healthy environment for patients and staff alike.