In the October 2018 12.1 iPhone update, a number of emoji premiered that should get any phone-carrying, text-message-typing Infection Preventionist in a good mood. Nestled among the smilies, foods, holidays, and flags are a lab coat, a sponge, a bar of soap, DNA, a test tube, and most excitingly, a microbe and a cultured petri dish! We can only imagine the ways you all will use these new emoji! In honor of this new addition, we’re going to examine how infection control activities involve social media.

One of the tools available to infection preventionists, hospital epidemiologists and healthcare practitioners is the antibiogram. While not all facilities or networks will have an up-to-date version of this report, they are becoming more common. What is an antibiogram and how can it be used? In simple terms, an antibiogram is a report that shows how susceptible strains of pathogens are to a variety of antibiotics.

Anyone  who  reads about the recent fatal healthcare-associated infections in New Jersey shares in the nation's sorrow at the loss of children to a potentially preventable condition. No group, however, can truly understand the emerging details about these cases better than the national community of infection preventionists. These healthcare workers know what a complex and demanding job it is to keep patients safe from HAIs. But as more details emerge from both outbreaks, they serve to remind the nation that infection prevention is an essential component of any healthcare facility, requiring dedicated funding for staff and supplies.