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The Arab Countries Infection Control Network
Connecting Professionals - Bridging Borders - Protecting Public
Program Managment
A. Core program management frameworks
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CDC – Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel & Programs (central hub)
High‑level landing hub that links to multiple CDC programmatic pieces: healthcare personnel policies, occupational health, surveillance, outbreak response, and infection control program components. This is a good “front door” when you’re orienting new leaders to what an infection prevention program should actually own: policies, training, audit, water management, device‑associated infection prevention, and reporting.
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WHO – Core components for infection prevention and control programmes
The single most important global framework for infection control program design and evaluation. It defines the eight core components (program, guidelines, education, surveillance, multimodal strategies, monitoring/audit, workload/bed occupancy/staffing, environment/IPC in all settings). This is your backbone for: “Does our program exist at all levels, and is it structured the way WHO expects?” Perfect for high‑level gap analysis and building your assessment tools.
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CDC – Core infection prevention and control practices for safe healthcare delivery
This document defines the minimum IPC expectations every setting should meet. It is particularly strong for program management because it translates high‑level principles into operational “every patient, every time” practices and standardization. Ideal to use as a baseline standard when constructing institutional policies, checklists and unit‑level audits.
https://www.cdc.gov/infection-control/guidelines/core-practices.html
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WHO – Minimum requirements for infection prevention and control programmes
Designed for low‑ and middle‑income and resource‑limited settings, but also powerful for risk‑planning arguments everywhere. It distinguishes minimum vs advanced program elements and becomes a useful tool when you are advocating for staffing, training budgets, or specific infrastructure (e.g., sinks, isolation rooms, occupational health).
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ECDC – Infection prevention and control and preparedness resources
European program‑level materials: organisational requirements, national IPC program expectations, preparedness and response capacity, and alignment with AMR and HAI strategies. This is especially useful when you want to benchmark national‑level expectations or craft a “this is what a mature system looks like” narrative for executives and ministries.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/infection-prevention-and-control
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B. Risk assessment, risk registers and planning tools
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WHO – Infection prevention and control assessment framework (IPCAF)
A structured, scored tool to assess IPC programmes at facility level across the WHO core components. It gives you domain scores, overall “maturity category” (inadequate, basic, intermediate, advanced), and specific gaps. This is gold for: baseline assessment, tracking progress over years, and visual dashboards in your trainings or websites.
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WHO – IPCAF implementation and interpretation guide
Companion materials that explain how to administer IPCAF, involve stakeholders, interpret scores, and translate findings into concrete action plans. If you want a structured “assessment → prioritization → intervention → re‑assessment” cycle, this gives you explicit language and framing, ideal for education and committee charters.
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CDC – Infection prevention and control assessment tools (ICAR)
Tools originally developed for U.S. health departments to conduct on‑site infection control assessments in hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis, outpatient clinics, etc. They’re highly practical, checklist‑like, and map well to program management domains such as leadership support, surveillance, training, and environmental controls. Perfect to adapt into local audit tools or digital survey forms.
https://www.cdc.gov/hai/prevent/infection-control-assessment-tools.html
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Joint Commission – Infection prevention and control standards and tracer methodology
While full access to standards requires subscription, their openly available materials around tracer methodology, program expectations and survey process are invaluable. These documents show how an external accreditor will walk your program, making them ideal for internal mock surveys, readiness assessments, and aligning policies with accreditation language.
https://www.jointcommission.org/resources/patient-safety-topics/infection-prevention-and-control/
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APIC – Infection prevention program evaluation and gap analysis tools
APIC provides templates and frameworks for assessing infection prevention programs, including checklists for leadership, staffing, education, communication, and surveillance capability. These are particularly good for infection preventionists wanting to self‑assess their program readiness and present structured findings to leadership.
C. Program evaluation, indicators and performance measurement
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CDC – Infection prevention risk assessment and priority setting
While not always labelled as one single document, CDC provides frameworks for conducting risk assessments that consider patient population, procedures performed, devices used, endemic organisms, emerging threats, and facility layout. Many hospitals adapt this into an annual IPC risk assessment that feeds into their program plan.
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WHO – Risk assessment and risk‑based IPC planning tools
WHO’s IPC core components and IPCAF materials include explicit risk‑based planning guidance: using burden of HAI, AMR patterns, outbreaks, and resource constraints to decide where to focus effort. These resources help you build risk registers and link them to measurable actions and timelines.
https://www.who.int/teams/integrated-health-services/infection-prevention-control
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Public Health Ontario – Infection prevention and control risk assessment tools
PHO offers very practical, visually structured tools and guidance for conducting IPC risk assessments, both at facility level and for specific services (e.g., reprocessing, construction, environmental services). They’re ideal templates for making your own risk‑based planning worksheets.
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/health-topics/infection-prevention-control
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NHS England – Infection prevention and control board assurance framework
A powerful governance‑level tool that effectively acts as a high‑level risk and assurance checklist for boards and executives. It translates program expectations into board‑facing questions about assurance, gaps and actions. Ideal if you want to build executive‑friendly dashboards or board reports.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/infection-prevention-and-control-board-assurance-framework/
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ECDC – Risk assessment methodology for infectious threats and healthcare‑associated infections
Provides methodological guidance on assessing risks from pathogens and healthcare‑associated infections, with strong links to surveillance data and outbreak potential. This is useful when you want to link your local ICP risk assessment to national or regional risk landscapes (e.g., AMR organisms, emerging viruses).
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data
D. Leadership, governance, culture and strategic planning
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WHO – IPC indicators and monitoring tools (linked to core components)
WHO has developed indicator sets for both structure (e.g., number of IPC staff, existence of guidelines) and process (e.g., hand hygiene compliance, appropriate PPE use) aligned with their core components and IPCAF. These are ideal for building scorecards, dashboards, and monitoring frameworks that look beyond just HAI incidence.
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CDC – National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and HAI metrics
NHSN provides standardized definitions, risk‑adjusted metrics (e.g., SIR), and analytic tools to measure program impact on CLABSI, CAUTI, VAP/VAE, SSI, MDROs, and more. Even outside the U.S., the conceptual framework is extremely useful: standardized definitions + risk adjustment + benchmarked indicators = credible program evaluation.
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AHRQ – Tools for evaluating patient safety and infection control programs
AHRQ offers multiple tools: the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS), quality improvement toolkits, and HAI‑specific modules. They support understanding how culture, communication and system design influence infection control, which is vital when you move beyond “compliance auditing” to “program effectiveness”.
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ECDC – HAI surveillance protocols and point prevalence surveys
ECDC’s standardized methodologies for HAI surveillance and point prevalence surveys help infection control programs evaluate their burden of infection and compare it across facilities or countries. These methods are invaluable when you want to justify program priorities or interventions using robust data.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthcare-associated-infections-hai-surveillance
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WHO – Hand hygiene multimodal strategy and monitoring tools
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While focused on hand hygiene, this set is also a model for program evaluation: multimodal strategy, baseline assessment, intervention, process measurement (compliance), and outcome measurement (HAI reduction). The tools include observation forms, self‑assessment frameworks, and action planning materials—very transferable to other IPC domains.
E. Bonus: quality improvement and systems approaches for IPC programs
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WHO – Improving infection prevention and control at the point of care through multimodal strategies
This document explains the multimodal improvement strategy (system change, training/education, monitoring and feedback, reminders/communication, culture change). It’s a conceptual backbone for strategic planning: rather than just “write a policy”, it insists that real program management means acting on all five levers.
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APIC – Competency model for the infection preventionist
APIC’s competency model describes domains such as leadership, program management, quality improvement, informatics, and research. It’s a useful lens for planning who should run your program and what skills need development. You can turn this into a capability assessment for your IP team.
https://apic.org/professional-practice/apic-competency-model/
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SHEA/APIC – Guidance for infection prevention programs in acute care hospitals
Joint expert guidance that addresses the structure and staffing of infection prevention programs, including recommended FTE ratios, reporting lines, scope of responsibilities, and collaboration with occupational health, environmental services, and antimicrobial stewardship. It’s extremely useful for arguing for adequate resourcing.
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WHO – National infection prevention and control programmes at the health system level
This moves above the facility level to talk about national or regional IPC program architecture: governance, financing, integration with AMR strategies, and surveillance networks. For teaching and advocacy, it helps clinicians see how facility IPC fits inside a bigger system—and gives language for upward advocacy.
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CDC Project Firstline – Programmatic support for frontline infection control capacity
While framed as education, Project Firstline is also a program strategy: building infection control competency in all staff, not just IPs. Its materials (modules, videos, discussion guides) can be embedded into your program plan as the education & engagement arm of your IPC strategy.
https://www.cdc.gov/infection-control/project-firstline/index.html