Changing the Narrative: Infection Prevention as a Partner in Ambulatory Settings

Session Description: Have you ever noticed the staff reaction when an Infection Preventionist walks into a clinic or ambulatory space? Staff may scatter, avert their eyes, or immediately ask, “What did we do wrong?”. This defensive response can make Infection Preventionists feel more like enforcers than partners, often leading to mistrust, withheld concerns, and missed opportunities for clinical improvement. Both sides can feel misunderstood and struggle to build mutual trust.

In ambulatory settings, this reaction can be rooted in history. Infection Preventionists were often only present during crises, investigations, or compliance checks and were not necessarily viewed as ongoing partners. Many ambulatory sites shared hospital-based Infection Preventionists, creating confusion due to differing workflows and environments that often occur in an outpatient setting. To overcome these challenges, cultivating a trusting and collaborative partnership tailored to the outpatient setting is crucial. This requires time, intentional effort, and clear communication to establish a shared understanding of roles and expectations involving ambulatory leadership, clinical staff, and the Infection Preventionist.

This presentation will explore practical strategies on how to shift these perceptions from only regulatory to a true ongoing beneficial partnership. We will also discuss how to build trust and maintain that trust between ambulatory locations and Infection Preventionists. Creation of a culture where infection prevention is a shared responsibility between the Infection Preventionist and outpatient staff, will also be highlighted. Attendees will leave with tools to foster meaningful relationships that support safer, more transparent healthcare environments within the ambulatory setting. This presentation is appropriate for all levels of Infection Preventionists who oversee ambulatory locations.

Gail Weeks

Ambulatory Infection Preventionist - Columbia Network, Peacehealth

Gail Weeks, DNP, RN, CIC is currently an ambulatory infection preventionist at a healthcare system based in the Pacific Northwest. She began her career as an oncology nurse navigator and then as an infection preventionist. Gail joined the infection prevention team just before the COVID pandemic and worked as part of a larger team to tackle the pandemic in ambulatory and inpatient settings. Gail joined the ambulatory infection prevention team where she partners with over 70 clinics located in two cities to address infection prevention requirements and needs. Partnership development and education has been a cornerstone of her ambulatory infection prevention work. Her DNP project analyzed hand hygiene and environmental cleaning in ambulatory clinics and the project learnings highlighted the importance of staff partnership and engagement to attain needed outcomes. She obtained her RN from Clark College and her MSN and DNP degrees from Washington State University.

Mohamed Elhadidi

Executive Director of infection control , Dallah healthcare

Dr. Elhadidi has worked for more than 15 years in infection prevention and control in the Middle East. (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain), earned his MBBCH from Ain Shams School of Medicine and Surgery in 2006 and completed his postgraduate studies in infection control in 2011, is CIC certified since 2015, earned his MBA in risk management in India in 2017, and Master of Science in Health Care Management in Switzerland in 2022 and Board certified in long-term care infection prevention in 2022. Today, he manages the Infection Control Departments at Dallah Healthcare KSA (5 hospitals) and has been an Assessor of Infection Control at the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions for more than 8 years. He is a tutor for the Saudi MOH IC Diploma and a member of the APIC 2022 ,2023,2024 Annual Conference Committee and chairman of abstract subcommittee for APIC 2025 .