Healthcare-Associated Infections and Prevention (HAI)
Patients may acquire a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) while receiving treatment for medical or surgical conditions in any care setting, including hospitals, same-day surgery centers, outpatient clinics and long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities.
Iowa HHS and community partners are working together to reduce preventable HAIs in our state.
Infection Prevention Services
Experts from Iowa HHS provide the latest education, evaluation and planning resources to help hospitals and other healthcare facilities improve infection prevention and control programs.
Services are consultative – not regulatory or punitive – and always free of charge. To ask questions or schedule a service, email hai-ar@hhs.iowa.gov.
An experienced team of clinical and public health professionals leads the Iowa HHS HAI program. They work with infection prevention partners to reduce the occurrence of HAIs in acute, ambulatory and long-term care healthcare facilities across Iowa.
Service hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For questions or to schedule a service, email hai-ar@hhs.iowa.gov
Regional Nurse Clinicians
Working to protect and preserve Iowans’ health and safety, nurse clinicians offer consultation, education and training, assessments, technical assistance and more to hospitals and clinics, long-term care facilities, surgery centers and congregate living settings in each of Iowa’s 99 counties.
Refer to the table below to identify the nurse clinician assigned to support your county or download a map.
HAI
Nurse Clinician Contact
Counties
Chris Barten, RN, BSN
Phone: 515-322-3796
Allamakee County
Appanoose County
Benton County
Black Hawk County
Bremer County
Buchanan County
Clayton County
Clarke County
Davis County
Decatur County
Delaware County
Dubuque County
Fayette County
Grundy County
Howard County
Jones County
Linn County
Lucas County
Mahaska County
Marion County
Monroe County
Ringgold County
Union County
Wayne County
Winneshiek County
Tyra Goss, BSN,RN
Phone: 515-204-5955
Cedar County
Clinton County
Des Moines County
Henry County
Iowa County
Jackson County
Jefferson County
Johnson County
Keokuk County
Lee County
Louisa County
Muscatine County
Scott County
Van Buren County
Wapello County
Washington County
Abby Hough, RN
Phone: 515-802-7898
Adams County
Cass County
Cherokee County
Crawford County
Fremont County
Harrison County
Ida County
Lyon County
Mills County
Monona County
Montgomery County
O’Brien County
Osceola County
Page County
Plymouth County
Pottawattamie County
Shelby County
Sioux County
Taylor County
Woodbury County
DeeAnn Vaage, RN, BSN, CIC
Phone: 515-499-1551
Buena Vista County
Butler County
Calhoun County
Cerro Gordo County
Chickasaw County
Clay County
Dickinson County
Emmet County
Floyd County
Franklin County
Hamilton County
Hancock County
Hardin County
Humboldt County
Kossuth County
Mitchell County
Palo Alto
Pocahontas County
Sac County
Webster County
Winnebago County
Worth County
Lisa Vitale, MSN, RN, CIC
Phone: 515-305-1274
Adair County
Audobon County
Boone County
Carroll County
Dallas County
Greene County
Guthrie County
Jasper County
Madison County
Marshall County
Polk County
Poweshiek County
Story County
Tama County
Warren County
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Targeted Assessment for Prevention (TAP) Strategy, a quality improvement framework.
Iowa HHS TAP Strategy can help you strengthen your hospital or other care facility’s infection prevention programs by gauging:
Improve your infection prevention and control program by scheduling a free Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) on-site visit.
During the visit, an Iowa HHS HAI nurse clinician, utilizing CDC’s ICAR tools, will assess current HAI risks and infection mitigation strategies at your hospital, clinic or long-term care facility. The visits are non-regulatory and non-punitive.
You will also receive at no charge:
A comprehensive assessment of your existing program.
A customized evaluation of infection prevention strengths and opportunities for your reference only.
Guidance on your current infection prevention and control policies, quality improvement priorities and planning activities.
The most up-to-date resources, tools and training tailored to your needs.
A supportive, ongoing relationship with your Iowa HHS HAI nurse clinician for as long as you want to use them as a resource.
Iowa HHS HAI nurse clinicians provide one-on-one technical support, assist with onboarding new staff, and offer guidance on meeting quality standards for the CDC’s web-based National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The NHSN is the most widely used tracking system in the United States for reporting HAIs and healthcare personnel immunizations.
The Iowa HHS HAI program team hosts two 30-minute virtual open office hour sessions each month: one for providers in long-term care (nursing home) settings and one for providers in acute care (hospital) settings.
These informal meetings allow healthcare providers to ask questions, request information and receive guidance. To register to participate in open office hours, email hai-ar@hhs.iowa.gov.
Infection Prevention Education and Training Resources
Access the tools and information below to build awareness and understanding within your facility of proper practices to help prevent and control HAIs.
Infection Prevention Education and Training Resources
Access the tools and information below to build awareness and understanding within your facility of proper practices to help prevent and control HAIs.
Project Firstline is an initiative of Iowa HHS in cooperation with the CDC to provide infection control education to all frontline healthcare workers — improving their skills and success in protecting patients, colleagues, their communities and themselves from infectious disease.
Iowa HHS developed a series of educational posters and videos in collaboration with the Iowa Institute of Public Health Research and Policy at the University of Iowa to promote proper infection control practices.
Find these materials on the Iowa HHS Project Firstline page and use them to educate everyone entering a healthcare facility, regardless of their role, relationship to a patient, or whether they provide direct patient care.
States Targeting Reduction in Infections via Engagement
National infection prevention experts, led by the Health Research and Educational Trust, developed the curriculum for the CDC initiative States Targeting Reduction in Infections via Engagement (STRIVE). The courses cover both technical and foundational elements of HAI prevention.
Designed for healthcare workers responsible for infection prevention and control programs, the CDC’s Nursing Home Infection Preventionist Training Course was produced in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The free, specialized course is made up of 23 modules and sub-modules that learners can complete in any order and over multiple sessions. It covers:
Core activities for effective infection prevention and control programs.
Recommended practices to reduce pathogen transmission, HAIs and antibiotic resistance.
Implementation Resources
The CDC's website provides examples of resources introduced and explained within the curriculum, such as audit tools, policy and procedure templates, and outbreak investigation tools.