🎆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:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW) Find ready-to-use social media posts, fact sheets, and talking points to kickstart awareness activities across your organization.
- World Health Organization – World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) Grab shareable graphics, infographics, and messages to spotlight the global effort against antimicrobial resistance.
- CDC – What Is One Health? See how the health of people, animals, and the environment are all linked and why your daily actions matter beyond the bedside.
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
🎆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.
Explore and download resources at: Infection Prevention and You.
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!
Target Audience: Essential IPC Education Level
From Burnout to Buy-In: Fun, Fast Trainings That Energize Infection Prevention Efforts
Keeping staff engaged in infection prevention is not easy, especially when everyone is stretched thin. The good news is that learning can be fun, quick, and energizing while still reinforcing best practices.
What to expect:
- VIPTC Escape Room: Step into the Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center’s digital escape room, where your team must stop Candida auris before it spreads. With digital videos, interactive puzzles, and just the right sense of adventure, this training turns infection prevention into a shared experience staff will not forget.
- Infection Prevention Games: Whether you have just a few minutes or a full training day, PICNet’s toolkit of infection prevention games have something ready to go. Try a quick Infection Control Scrabble round at shift change, set up a Sherlock Holmes Case of the Missing Microbes for a skills fair, or use crosswords and word searches as light refreshers.
- Infection Prevention Training Power Tools: Bring infection prevention to life with hands-on activities like Caught Red-Handed (using paint to reveal missed hand hygiene spots), hosting a PPE fashion show, or even creating your own educational game.
Why It Works: When staff get to laugh, work together, and solve problems as a team, the lessons stick and the workplace culture gets stronger.
Target Audience: Essential IPC Education Level
Measles Cases Hit 25-Year High: Is Your Team Prepared?
Measles is highly contagious and can spread before symptoms even appear. That’s why early recognition and rapid action are critical. As of July 22, 2025, 1,319 confirmed measles cases have been reported by 40 jurisdictions, including Virginia. This is the highest number since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.
The Measles Micro-Learning from CDC’s Project Firstline is a quick, targeted training designed to help healthcare workers understand how measles spreads and how to stop it.
What to Expect: The short module reviews measles transmission, why it spreads so easily, and key steps to protect patients and coworkers. Clear visuals and real-world examples help staff connect the dots quickly.
How to Use It: Share it in a huddle, add it to an in-service, or assign it individually. It’s short, easy to fit into busy schedules, and makes an excellent refresher.
Why It Works: It’s direct, visual, and action-focused, with a facilitator guide to ensure consistent messaging.
Target Audience: Foundational IPC Education Level
⏱️Train Your Team’s IP Eye: Quickly Rank That Risk!
Want a quick, hands-on way to boost your team’s infection prevention instincts? Rank That Risk! is a fast-paced training tool from the VDH IP Training Power Tools collection. It helps healthcare workers think like an IP by reviewing real-life infection control breaches and ranking them from highest to lowest risk.
What to Expect: The activity includes a facilitator guide and six location themed picture sets, so you can choose the version that best fits your setting. Each card sparks discussion, encourages critical thinking, and helps staff see risks from an IP perspective.
How to Use It: This tool works well in team huddles, safety rounds, or short in-service sessions. You can rotate different sets over time to keep it engaging.
Why It Works: It’s visual, fast, and interactive. This activity helps teams practice real-time decision making in a low-pressure environment.
Target Audience: Essential IPC Education Level
⏱️No Downtime Needed: Quick Training Hits for Safer Shifts
Looking for quick infection prevention education that sticks? This month’s resources focus on short but mighty trainings that fit into a busy clinical setting — perfect for reinforcing safety messages without pulling staff away from care.
What to expect: When time is tight, but safety still matters, these quick training hits deliver big impact without slowing staff down.
- VIPTC Assisted Blood Glucose Monitoring Video: A short video that bridges clinical care and infection prevention by reinforcing safe practices to reduce bloodborne infection risks during assisted blood glucose monitoring.
- Mini Trainings & Huddle Cards from North Dakota Health & Human Services: Ready-to-use videos, posters, quizzes, and huddle cards that make it easy to reinforce infection prevention topics through short, team-based learning moments.
- Pause for Prevention Program – Health Quality Innovation Network: This flexible, discussion-based program supports daily huddles with quick IPC conversation starters that promote critical thinking, team communication, and a strong safety culture.
Target Audience: Essential IPC Education Level
Want More? Keep an eye out for the VDH HAI/AR Infection Prevention Educator Roadshow. This one-day, no-cost hands-on training helps anyone who educates staff on infection prevention create quick, high-impact educational tools to use at their own facilities. Roadshow is coming to five locations across Virginia in July and August.
Target Audience: Intermediate IPC Education Level