MSI - Master of Science in Infection Prevention and Epidemiology

The Master of Science in Infection Prevention & Epidemiology (MSI) degree is designed to create leaders who will use epidemiologic and infection prevention principles and tools to prevent infections and provide education across the care continuum. Acting as a change agent, the students who graduate from this program will use systems thinking, data, and evidence-based practice to facilitate collaboration to improve patient safety. A core benefit of this program is the diversity of professional students that stimulates exchanges and integrations of learning across care settings.

Although the field of Infection Prevention has historically been widely embraced in acute care hospital settings, the role and use of Infection Preventionists (IP) has expanded significantly over the past decade. This is in part due to the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Heath System”. This report focused attention on wide gaps existing within hospital patient safety practices (including Infection Prevention) and triggered a chain reaction that has since resulted in an intense focus on safety and quality improvement. The emerging critical need for Infection Prevention expertise has since been recognized as a key risk in many healthcare settings, extending beyond the walls of hospitals into ambulatory, long-term care and community service settings. This program will be instrumental in preparing students for a professional career as an IP in healthcare.

All courses are administered on-line and in 8-week formats for working professionals who are choosing this program as professional development in their current or future clinical role. The courses are taught by highly qualified faculty that represent diverse infection prevention & epidemiologic experiences and insights including statistical research, biology, pharmacy, environment of care, regulation, quality improvement, informatics and leadership. To maximize access to and completion of the program, coursework is presented via distance learning and a class size of 20 students.

There are three pre-requisite courses required for admission to the program:

• Microbiology (4 credits)

• Anatomy & Physiology (8 credits)

• Two A&P courses or

• One Anatomy course and One Physiology course taken separately

• Introduction to Statistics (3 credits)

The following program themes are woven throughout the curriculum:

• Transformational Leadership

• Identification, Prevention & Control of Infections

• Surveillance & Epidemiological Investigation

• Program Development & Integration

• Patient Safety & Quality

• Effective Communication

• Continuum of Care

• Influencing Human Behavior

• Inter-professional Collaboration

• Knowledge Sharing

• Life-long Learning