Featured Education & Training Resource

Hand hygiene remains one of the most important — and powerful — actions we can take to protect patients and ourselves. This year, in honor of World Hand Hygiene Day on Monday, May 5, 2025, we’re inviting you to chart a course for cleaner hands — and a healthier galaxy — with some stellar tools.

What to Expect: To support your hand hygiene efforts this May, here are a few resources that are out of this world:

• WHO Hand Hygiene Game: Step into a futuristic hospital in space and stop the spread of infections by completing all five levels in this interactive, free training game.
• CDC Hand Hygiene Program Video Series: A four-part educator video series built around the “4 Es” — Engage, Educate, Empower, and Evaluate — providing plain language tools and strategies to invigorate hand hygiene teaching.
• VDH Hand Hygiene In-Service Slide Deck: Ready-to-use PowerPoint training that covers essential hand hygiene practices will get you ready for training in the blink of an eye. It is one of many VDH hand hygiene resources.

How to Use These Resources: 

• Host a Hand Hygiene Challenge: Encourage staff to compete to complete all five levels of the WHO Hand Hygiene Game. Participants who complete the mission can be entered into a prize drawing — and help boost team engagement!
• Inspire Champions with the CDC Video Series: Use CDC hand hygiene program videos to energize your Champions of Healthcare Infection Prevention (CHIP) and prep them to deliver quick, relatable education to peers. Turn everyday moments into hand hygiene wins across your facility.
• Expand World Hand Hygiene Day into a Week with the VDH Slide Deck: Pull key slides to create daily huddles leading up to May 5th. A quick message each day builds momentum, keeps clean hands top of mind, and turns a single event into a weeklong celebration.

No matter where your healthcare journey takes you — from bedside to breakroom — navigating the hand hygiene galaxy starts with clean hands.

Target Audience: Essential IPC Education Level

Infection prevention in long-term care takes teamwork—and sometimes a little extra reinforcement. It’s been a year since CMS formally added Enhanced Barrier Precautions (EBP) to infection control guidance, and that big question— “Do I need PPE for this?”—still comes up.

EBP expands personal protective equipment (PPE) use beyond isolation, applying to high-contact care like wound care, changing linens, and bathing. EBP is key to stopping the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in long-term care facilities, but it takes clear systems and consistent staff education to make it stick.

What to Expect: This month’s resources are designed to meet your team where they are—whether you’re providing direct care, coordinating therapy, or supporting infection prevention efforts facility-wide.

• 8 Moments of Enhanced Barrier Precautions: Simple visual education tool. If you’ve ever heard “Do I need PPE for this?”—this tool is your new best friend. Also available in 8 other languages!
• VDH’s Enhanced Barrier Precautions in Nursing Homes Algorithm: This decision-making tool breaks down when and why to use EBP in plain language.
• CDC’s EBP Implementation—Observations Tool: Built for infection preventionists and facility leads, this resource helps track EBP use and identify areas for coaching

How to Use These Resources:

• Share the 8 Moments visual in breakrooms, care stations, huddles, or staff emails.
• Use the algorithm and observation tool to support your facility’s infection control plan or prep for survey readiness.

Enhanced Barrier Precautions are a big shift, but they’re not a solo effort. Whether you’re providing direct care or leading infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts, these tools are here to help you do the work and explain the why. Infection prevention is always evolving, but so are we.

Infection prevention isn’t ONLY about hand hygiene and PPE—it starts with the very environment we work in. Environmental Services (EVS) professionals are on the front lines of infection prevention, playing a critical role in stopping multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) and keeping patients, staff, and visitors safe.

What to Expect
These resources highlight the essential role of EVS teams in infection prevention, from stopping the spread of MDROs to creating a safe environment for patients, residents and staff.

• Association for the Health Care Environment’s EVS Educational Video Series (Now available in Spanish!): Short, focused videos that highlight why EVS work is critical to patient safety and how infection prevention best practices can be seamlessly integrated into daily workflows.
• California Department of Public Health/Project Firstline EVS Toolkit: A comprehensive resource pack with bite-sized training materials and interactive games that can be used in team huddles, staff meetings, or individual learning.
• EVS and the Battle Against Infection – Graphic Novel: A unique, engaging way to showcase the vital role of EVS professionals in infection prevention.

How to Use These Resources

• Incorporate them into EVS team huddles and training sessions.
• Use videos as onboarding tools for new EVS staff.
• Empower EVS teams by reinforcing their critical role in healthcare safety.

Target Audience: Essential IPC Education Level

Respiratory season is still in full swing, with rising cases of seasonal influenza locally and H5 bird flu infections and human metapneumovirus globally. It’s the perfect time to revisit the basics of cough etiquette, a critical component of Standard Precautions to reduce the spread of infections. This month, we’re featuring the Pause for Prevention: Cough Etiquette resource developed by Health Quality Innovation Network, a VIPTA partner, to enhance infection prevention and control (IPC) practices across healthcare settings.

What to Expect

• A three-page education package with an educational flyer and a facilitator guide designed to train on cough etiquette using workplace learning principles.
• You can use everyday items like a spray bottle and personal protective equipment to create quick, interactive demonstrations that leave a lasting impression on participants.

Ways to Share this Resource

• Use in team huddles, small group orientation, or one-on-one training sessions.
• Adapt the scenarios to role-play situations involving your healthcare roles and facility.

Target Audience: Essential IPC Education Level

Say ‘bonjour’ to better vial safety! A VIPTA partner, the Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center (VIPTC), brings you the Injectioneers— a fun and animated team delivering practical tips through an engaging story to keep your injection practices sharp.

Single and Multidose Vials with the Injectioneers

What to Expect

• Follow the “Injectioneers” as they demonstrate the essential steps for safely handling single-use and multi-dose vials.
• Learn the “only one” rule and gain practical tips on preparation, handling, and disposal.

Ways to Share this Resource

• Use in team huddles, training sessions, or email updates.
• Perfect for introducing or reinforcing foundational infection prevention concepts.

Target Audience: Foundational IPC Education Level

Mpox is a contagious rash illness caused by the mpox virus. In November 2024, the first case of clade I mpox was confirmed in the United States. The Virginia Department of Health’s mpox fact sheet features medical images of diverse skin tones to enhance healthcare professionals’ ability to recognize mpox symptoms in all patients.

In a 2022 study, Buonsenso et al. found that 74% of surveyed healthcare professionals reported using training materials featuring predominantly white skin, and only 5% felt confident diagnosing skin conditions across all skin tones. Inclusive training materials like this not only build diagnostic confidence but also advance equitable care for diverse communities.

Want to Learn More? Access the VDH mpox fact sheet for practical guidance on prevention, symptoms, and treatment. Visit VDH’s mpox webpage to learn more.

Target Audience: Foundational IPC Education Level