Virginia Infection Prevention & Control Training Alliance (VIPTA)

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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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Infection Control Starts with your EVS Cart

It’s Not Just a Room Turnover: It’s Infection Prevention 

Did you know that patients admitted to rooms where the previous occupant had a multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) face a higher risk of acquiring that same organism? Every day, environmental services (EVS) professionals work alongside frontline healthcare staff to reduce this risk and protect patients and residents. When we support EVS teams, we strengthen the entire infection prevention system.

What to Expect and How to Use It: With some EVS staff receiving as little as three days of training, and 83% learning on the job, education needs to be quick, practical, and built into their daily workflow.

  • Onboarding: Project Firstline Training Toolkit for Environmental Services (EVS) Staff – A comprehensive training plan that builds both the why and the how, helping EVS staff confidently step into their role as essential infection prevention team members.
  • New Refreshers: CDC EVS Microlearns – Quick, practical micro-learns covering key topics like contact time, when to change gloves, and maintaining clean and safe EVS carts, perfect for reinforcing skills in just a few minutes.
  • New Observation & Support: VDH Daily Room Cleaning Checklist – A simple, structured checklist to guide room cleaning from start to finish, helping standardize workflows and ensure no critical steps are missed.

Target Audience: Essential 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.

VDH: Clinician Letter – Measles Outbreak Expansion and Back-to-School Immunizations (6/26/2026)
VDH
Acute Care Hospital
Ambulatory (Outpatient) Care
Department of Health
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Pediatric / NICU
Emergency Preparedness & Operations
Vaccination
Clinician Letter: Measles Outbreak Expansion and Back-to-School Immunizations (6/26/2026) The Virginia Department of Health announced that the Buckingham County measles outbreak has expanded to Cumberland County. Review the expanded outbreak vaccination recommendations, encourage patients to stay up to date on immunizations before the school year, and immediately report suspected or confirmed measles cases to your local health department.
VDH: Clinician Letter – Public Health Updates on Measles, Ebola Preparedness, and Travel-Associated Illnesses (6/03/2026)
VDH
Acute Care Hospital
Ambulatory (Outpatient) Care
Department of Health
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Pediatric / NICU
Emergency Preparedness & Operations
Vaccination
Clinician Letter: Public Health Updates on Measles, Ebola Preparedness, and Travel-Associated Illnesses (6/03/2026) This clinician letter provides updates on rising measles activity, Ebola preparedness, and travel-associated illnesses. Protect patients and staff by maintaining a high index of suspicion, assessing travel history, following infection control guidance, ensuring vaccination coverage, and promptly reporting suspected cases to your local health department.
APIC: New Toolkit to Address Problematic Manufacturer Instructions for Use for Non‑Critical Devices (5/08/2026)
APIC
Any Practice Setting
Department of Health
Quality Improvement
Regulatory Compliance
New Toolkit to Address Problematic Manufacturer Instructions for Use for Non‑Critical Devices: This toolkit provides practical strategies and resources to help healthcare professionals address problems with manufacturer instructions for use (IFUs) for non-critical medical devices. It supports infection preventionists in safely reprocessing devices when IFUs are unclear, incomplete, or difficult to follow.  *Access this resource with a free APIC account.

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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