Duke University Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology (IPHE) strives to accomplish its mission to promote the health and safety of patients, visitors, and healthcare workers at Duke University Hospital (DUH) by promoting a culture in which no healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is perceived as acceptable. This mission will be accomplished by adhering to the following principles:
- Support a culture of safety, quality, and consistency to prevent HAIs by focusing on standards of excellence through observation, surveillance, and education.
- Safeguard the well-being of all people within Duke University Hospital (DUH) and the surrounding communities by creating inclusive, interdepartmental and multidisciplinary relationships which promote process improvement and adherence to best practice recommendations.
- Devise and implement process improvement strategies to reduce HAIs to their lowest attainable and sustainable level.
- Reduce the risk of transmission and acquisition of epidemiologically important pathogens among patients, visitors, healthcare workers, and all staff members.
Our Infection Prevention team is staffed by 2 Infectious Diseases-trained Hospital Epidemiologist Physicians, 1 Clinical Operations Director, 6 Infection Preventionists, 1 Nurse Public Health Epidemiologist, and 1 Data Analyst. The team provides a broad scope of services at Duke University Hospital (DUH) and its associated clinics.
DUH is a not-for-profit, 957-bed, tertiary care referral hospital and is part of Duke University Healthcare System. DUH employs approximately 13,000 individuals who provide primary and specialized care for over 50,000 inpatient visits per year. DUH also offers primary and specialized outpatient services via over 100 campus and community-based practices with approximately 1,000,000 outpatient visits per year.
Infection Prevention resources and protocols are available to Duke University Hospital employees at: https://intranet.dh.duke.edu/hospitals/duh/infection/SitePages/Home.aspx