Innovative Research to Support Safe Healthcare

CDC is committed to investing in ongoing research to prevent and eliminate healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Patients treated in healthcare settings can get HAIs, which cause sickness and death and add billions of dollars to healthcare costs each year. Research has been done to improve our understanding of HAIs, how to prevent certain HAIs, and to develop prevention guidelines. However, these prevention practices cannot prevent all HAIs, even when fully implemented. Further research is needed. Together with public health and healthcare partners, CDC is working to bring increased attention to safe healthcare and the prevention of HAIs and antibiotic resistance.

Prevention Epicenters program

CDC’s Prevention Epicenters Program is a unique research program in which CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) collaborates with academic investigators to conduct innovative infection control and prevention research.

Developing Healthcare Safety Research (SHEPheRD)

CDC awards organizations the opportunity to develop and conduct research and innovative prevention projects related to safety in healthcare settings. This expanded opportunity for research and prevention is funded through a mechanism known as the Safety and Healthcare Epidemiology Prevention Research Development (SHEPheRD) Program and is managed by the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.

Environmental Hygiene

In 2015, CDC hosted a roundtable discussion focused on Environmental Hygiene in Healthcare, including how germs spread from person to person from surfaces, such as bedrails, bedside tables and call buttons, within a healthcare facility.

Modeling Infectious Diseases in Healthcare Network (MInD – Healthcare)

CDC supports innovative modeling research to better understand the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), particularly those that are resistant to antibiotics. This opportunity for prevention research is part of CDC’s Modeling Infectious Diseases in Healthcare Network (MInD – Healthcare)and is managed by the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.