|
October Event Calendar
Check out the VIPTA Event Calendar for more details and to register for events.
Events in October
|
|
Featured Training Resource
🎆Let’s Throw an Infection Prevention Party!
International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW) is October 19–25 and a great reason to have a party! A simple way to add flare to your celebration is with the brand-new Cheers for Peers certificate. It’s a ready-to-use tool that makes it easy to spotlight the everyday wins that keep patients, residents, and staff safe. You can hand one out during a huddle, post it on a breakroom bulletin board, or make it part of a bigger party.
Free Tools to Bring the Fun: The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) makes it easy to host your own celebration. The IIPW toolkit offers:
-
Fun graphics and posters to brighten up your space.
-
Ready-to-use PowerPoint slides to add flair to your next huddle or staff meeting.
-
Promotional videos and infographics that spark conversation.
-
Daily themes and games to keep the energy high all week long.
Party Ideas for Your Team
-
Kick off the week by surprising a unit with balloons, snacks, and a quick game.
-
Hand out Cheers for Peers certificates to celebrate a champion of healthcare infection prevention, an infection-free milestone, great hand hygiene audits, or a colleague who consistently models best practices.
Puzzle It Out! Want to add an extra layer of fun? Create your own infection prevention puzzles for staff to solve using a free site like Puzzel.org. Imagine sending someone a crossword or jigsaw puzzle that, when solved, reveals: “You won a Cheers for Peers award!”
Why It Matters: Celebrating infection prevention wins is more than just fun -- it can boost morale and remind your team that every effort counts. As we head into the busy fall respiratory season, a little joy goes a long way in keeping spirits high.
So, gather your balloons, download your graphics, and throw an infection prevention party this IIPW. And don’t forget to share your celebrations with VIPTA, we’d love to cheer alongside you!
|
 |
Image sourced from https://infectionpreventionandyou.org/
|
|
Regulation & Guidance Updates |
|
✅Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
-
Health Advisory: Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (09/18/2025)
-
This Health Advisory summarizes CDC recommendations for U.S. public health departments, clinical laboratories, and healthcare workers about potential Ebola virus disease case identification, testing, and biosafety considerations in clinical laboratories.
✅US Public Health Service
✅Virginia Department of Health (VDH)
-
Clinician Letters
-
Interim Recommendations for the Management of Healthcare Personnel Exposed to or Infected with COVID-19 or Seasonal Influenza (09/30/2025)
- VDH is providing updated recommendations for the management of healthcare personnel (HCP) exposed to or infected with COVID-19 or seasonal influenza. Healthcare facilities should evaluate VDH recommendations and consider updating HCP return to work and management guidance. These recommendations are not regulatory requirements or mandates.
-
Changes to the Reportable Disease Regulations in Virginia (09/24/2025)
-
This communication describes recent updates to the Virginia Regulations for Disease Reporting and Control. These regulations were brought into compliance with changes in the field of communicable disease detection and control. The regulations were modified to conform to Chapter 375 of the 2024 Virginia Acts of Assembly.
-
COVID-19 Vaccine Update (09/11/2025)
-
This letter provides important updates about the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine. The State Health Commissioner issued a Statewide Standing Order authorizing pharmacists to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to adults consistent with FDA indication.
|
|
|
Cheers for Peers
✨Cheers for Every Infection Prevention Win
This month let’s shine a light on the best practices that add up to big wins. Infection prevention is a team sport, and October is a perfect time to celebrate the everyday wins that keep patients, residents, and staff safe. There’s a new Cheers for Peers award certificate you can download and use right now from VIPTA:
A step-by-step guide to spread “cheer” this month.
-
Pick a positive infection prevention accomplishment you want to celebrate.
-
Customize and print the new Cheers for Peers certificate (or print a few blank ones to take on rounds).
-
Share the certificate with a team member who is doing a great job preventing infections in your healthcare setting. Snap a picture if they’re ok with it.
-
Brag on them on a unit board, your intranet, a team huddle, or any space meaningful to the recipient.
-
(Optional) Share statewide by submitting to the VIPTA Cheers for Peers nomination form.
Cheers in Action: At Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, Infection Prevention has worked very closely with their equipment cleaning techs on hardwiring the process for cleaning and disinfecting of their neonatal intensive care unit isolettes. Infection Prevention awarded the team a Cheers for Peers certificate for all their hard work and collaboration with the IP team!
Looking for inspiration on what wins to celebrate? Take some of these ideas and tailor to your team’s accomplishments.
-
Hand Hygiene Hero: Perfect hand hygiene on a spot audit.
-
Infection-Free Milestone: A unit that stayed free of healthcare-associated infections for the month, six months, or a year.
-
Oral Care All-Stars: A unit has >90% oral care compliance to lower healthcare-associated pneumonia risk.
-
Environmental Services Excellence: Terminal clean passes (checklists or fluorescent-gel checks).
-
“Wipe Before We Walk” Award (Facilities/Maintenance): Tools cleaned and disinfected after work in a patient room.
-
Breathe-Easy Respiratory Infection Prevention Champions: Proper circuit handling and equipment disinfection across the board.
Try it and tell us how it went: Print a certificate, celebrate a win this month, and share your story. Submit a nomination to VIPTA and let us know what you tried, what worked, and how your team reacted. We cannot wait to cheer with you!
|
 |
Henrico Doctors’ Hospital’s team of equipment cleaning techs was awarded a Cheers for Peers certificate for hard work and collaboration with the IP team.
|
|
Search the VIPTA library of curated infection prevention and control (IPC) education and training resources. The IPC Education & Training Resource Library includes state and national resources related to healthcare-associated infections, antimicrobial resistance and/or IPC. |
|
 |
|
|
Subscribe to the Bulletin
Was the VIPTA Bulletin forwarded to you? Subscribe and get the VIPTA Bulletin sent directly to you!
|
We Want to Hear From You
Your feedback matters to VIPTA. Help us improve or ask questions using the VIPTA feedback form.
|
|
|
|
