Virginia Infection Prevention & Control Training Alliance (VIPTA)

VIPTA is a statewide infection prevention and control education collaborative, led by the Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Group.  Through partnership, VIPTA curates IPC resources for Virginia’s healthcare, congregate care, and public health settings.

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🎆Purple Power: Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance Together

Get ready to go purple! Antimicrobial Awareness Week is November 18–24, 2025, and this year’s theme is “Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance Takes All of Us.” Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) isn’t just a healthcare issue; it’s a One Health challenge that affects people, pets, and our planet. Every reminder, game, or hallway conversation helps keep antibiotics and antifungals working for everyone.

What to Expect:

How to Use It:

  • Go purple! Ask teams to wear purple or decorate breakrooms to spark conversation.
  • Host a mini-moment. Share a quick AMR fact in your next huddle or meeting.
  • Make it a game. Use ideas from this month’s Cheers for Peers feature, where Whitney Rice created a microbe-matching challenge about bacterial vs. viral infections.
  • Spread the message. Share graphics or stories from the WHO or CDC campaigns on your intranet or social media.
  • Recognize Purple Champions. Celebrate strong antimicrobial stewardship by giving a Cheers for Peers certificate.

Target Audience: Foundational IPC Education Level

Guidance & Regulation Updates

VIPTA members track guidance and regulation resources to share source documents that guide infection prevention and control practices for public health staff and clinical and non-clinical healthcare personnel.

The date of the regulation or guidance update is included in each post.  Please check linked content to be sure it is the most up to date and recommended practice.

APIC: Updated Monkeypox Playbook (11/07/2025)
APIC
Acute Care Hospital
Ambulatory (Outpatient) Care
Department of Health
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Mobile Clinic
Outbreak Investigation
Patient and Family Engagement
Surveillance
Recent updates to the Monkeypox Playbook include the CDC’s Traveler Health Notice advising enhanced precautions and an updated Risk/Triage Scale recommending increased awareness. Additional information covers the current global situation of monkeypox and the latest outbreak reports.
SHEA: Multisociety Guidance for Infection Prevention and Control in Nursing Homes (10/20/2025)
SHEA
Acute Care Rehabilitation or Long-Term Care Acute Hospital (LTACH)
Assisted Living Facility (ALF)
Hospice and Palliative Care
Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)
The guidance offers recommendations for infection prevention and control (IPC) in nursing homes to address challenges including medical acuity and the rise of multidrug-resistant organisms. It emphasizes the importance of IPC leadership, training, and adherence to precautions while also considering the balance between maintaining a home-like environment and ensuring effective infection prevention measures.
SHEA/APIC: Multisociety Guidance for Infection Prevention and Control in Nursing Homes (10/28/2025)
APIC
SHEA
Acute Care Rehabilitation or Long-Term Care Acute Hospital (LTACH)
Assisted Living Facility (ALF)
Hospice and Palliative Care
Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)
Cleaning and Disinfection
Employee/Occupational Health
Hand Hygiene
High Level Disinfection
Outbreak Investigation
Physical Environment / Environment of Care (EOC)
This guidance document updates the 2008 SHEA/Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) guideline: Infection Prevention and Control in the Long-Term Care Facility and is intended to assist nursing homes in the United States in defining and implementing their infection prevention and control (IPC) programs and practices. Recommendations and implementation suggestions address IPC leadership, staffing, and resources, healthcare personnel and residents‘ adherence to precautions and effective hand hygiene, outbreak preparedness, training, occupational health, cleaning and disinfection in the care environment, and the involvement of IPC in the facility.
VDH Clinician Letter: Updates to CDC Immunization Schedule (10/10/2025)
CDC
VDH
Ambulatory (Outpatient) Care
Department of Health
Pediatric / NICU
Vaccination
This clinician letter outlines updates to immunization schedules for MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella) and COVID-19 vaccines, emphasizing their essential role in community health and safety in Virginia. It discusses the new guidelines, including the separate administration of the MMR and varicella vaccines for children under 4 years, the COVID-19 vaccine's availability for individuals aged 6 months and older, and the importance of verifying insurance coverage prior to vaccination.
VDH Clinician Letter: COVID-19 Vaccine Update (09/11/2025)
VDH
Any Practice Setting
Department of Health
Vaccination
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.

VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital

This month we are highlighting the great infection prevention work at VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital. They haven’t had a reportable catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), central line-associated bloodstream infection, ventilator-associated event, MRSA bacteremia laboratory-identified event, or surgical site infection following a colon procedure in 2023 or 2024 so far! They are a small facility (only 37 beds), so even one healthcare-associated infection causes their standardized infection ratio to be high.

According to Director of Infection Prevention, Donna Tignor, and Director of Quality, Kate Bradshaw, they are most proud of their work on CAUTI reduction. VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital has the standard CAUTI prevention practices in place, such as a CAUTI prevention bundle and discussing necessity every day in interdisciplinary rounds. However, the initiative with the biggest impact was the facility’s effort to empower nurses to follow the nurse-driven protocol for urinary catheter removal. Despite having a nurse-driven protocol in place, nurses were still calling physicians for permission to remove the catheter. Infection prevention and nursing leaders rounded with staff to share their support for the nurse-driven protocol and empower nursing staff to follow the protocol. These leaders made a commitment to back up the nursing teams if the decision to remove a catheter under the protocol was called into question. Infection prevention at Tappahannock also performs in-person onboarding with new physicians so they can review the nurse-driven catheter removal protocol with them. This ensures that physicians are aware of the facility’s protocols and that this is a part of their culture. Great work VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital!

IPC Education & Training Library

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. Visit the VIPTA FAQ page to learn more about VIPTA library content.

 

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Last Updated: June 30, 2025