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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1534560
Development, Delivery, and Evaluation of the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI) Pilot 2 Infection Control Lecture Series
Provisionally accepted- 1 Infection Prevention and Control, Texas Epidemiologic Public Health Institute (TEPHI), Houston, United States
- 2 Environmental and Occupational Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University College Station, College Station, Texas, United States
- 3 Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States
- 4 University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States
The Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI) aims to keep Texans healthy and the economy strong by preparing for the next infectious disease outbreak. TEPHI's Small Rural Healthcare Preparedness core developed, delivered, and evaluated a pilot infection prevention and control webinar series called Infection Control for rural-serving health professionals and organizations based on infection prevention and control field best practices.Data from the first year of the Infection Control series was collected through attendee registration forms, attendance records, knowledge, and post-lecture evaluation surveys using Qualtrics. The data were analyzed using Qualtrics software. Lectures were free and open to the public across disciplines.The material was promoted through public health channels with promotional flyers.11105 individuals attended or viewed the Infection Control series. Despite a generally low response rate to evaluation surveys, feedback was consistently positive. Participants noted a "high likelihood of future TEPHI infection prevention and control lecture attendance." The feedback informed improvements for the second year of the series.Attendees of the Infection Control series gained a deeper understanding of relevant policies, procedures, and practices. By providing essential, accessible education on infection prevention and control at no cost, healthcare systems, administrators, and providers in rural healthcare systems across Texas have acquired the necessary knowledge to establish and maintain a safe environment for patients and staff in healthcare settings.
Keywords: IPC education, Infection preventionist, training, Healthcare Associated Infection, Occupational Health and safety
Received: 26 Nov 2024; Accepted: 18 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ruch, Rodriguez, Rios, Ostrosky-Zeichner and Brown. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Kayla E. Ruch, Infection Prevention and Control, Texas Epidemiologic Public Health Institute (TEPHI), Houston, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.