Infection Prevention Opportunities and Partnerships Found in Crisis

Aayushi has been an Infection Preventionist (IP) for over 4 years after completing her master’s in public health and a master in Life Sciences. In 2018 she became part of the excellent, smart, and caring team at Providence Alaska Medical Center where she currently practices as an IP. She has led a flu collaborative for healthcare settings in the State of Alaska in partnership with Alaska Hospital & Healthcare Association (AHHA). She brings her expertise of public health and epidemiology, and her love of microbiology and all things data to the profession and practice of infection prevention. Getting connected to other professionals in the field of IP has been an integral part of her professional and personal journey in Alaska. She served as the local APIC chapter’s President-Elect in 2021 and now leads the board as the President.

I have been a registered nurse for over 20 years having obtained my degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage. I further advanced my education by receiving a master’s in healthcare Innovation through Arizona State University in 2012. My nursing career has included numerous opportunities including but not limited to perioperative services (Day Surgery, Post Anesthesia Care Unit), the Alaska Native Stroke Registry, Magnet Program Director, inpatient orthopedics, home infusion and infection prevention. Throughout my experiences have benefited from growth and development in leadership, professionalism, change management and team dynamics.

I have been in the infection prevention part of my career since the fall of 2014 with Ebola. Since then, it’s been fun and games ever since with infant botulism, the summer of Mumps, a potential mummified head in patient belongings, rabies, the 2018 earthquake and now a novel respiratory viral pandemic.

Although I inadvertently found my way to infection prevention, I quickly discovered that my past experiences were a perfect match the scope and breadth of what an infection preventionist is and does. As educators, facilitators, researchers, learners, influencers, and leaders, we have so much opportunity to impart the principles of infection prevention. However, to have an underlying goal of preventing what may never happen is such a unique space to occupy and requires that our skills include team building, navigating complex relationships, change management, mediation, and constructive conflict resolution.

I became manager of the Infection Prevention and Epidemiology Department at PAMC in 2016 and gained expanded scope of responsibilities for the Alaska region in 2018. In the same year I received my certification and received recognition as March of Dimes nurse of the year in infection prevention and occupational health. Our team achieved the honor of being selected to present at the 2019 APIC Conference on the topic of Essential Partnerships Following the 7.1 Alaska Earthquake: Facilities and Infection Prevention only to be thwarted by the pandemic. We are looking forward to presenting it officially in 2022.

I am currently holding the position of Secretary on the Board of the APIC Midnight Sun Chapter. We have learned and been impacted so much over the last two and half years, and I’d like to begin contributing this knowledge and experiences to bolster those across the state. Through a unified chapter we can accomplish so much through coordinated education, training, resource sharing, comradery, and support.