Abstract
Competences for infection prevention and control (IPC) practitioners were first introduced by the Infection Control Nurses Association (ICNA) in 2000. In recent years, they have been revised by the Education and Professional Development Committee of the Infection Prevention Society (IPS). The competences are a multi-purpose tool to support and inform service and workforce development and management at an operational and strategic level. They can assist in designing education programmes, help with staff appraisal, personal development plans and support revalidation alongside developing team structures and requirements. They enable the practitioner to review their own current position of progression and clinical standing from the position of assisted, supervised and independent. These terms are designed to assist the user to express the level of competence at which they work. This may differ depending on the competences that are being explored. This current version of the IPS competences (2018) have been designed to reflect the current structures and practices within the health and social care economy. They have been redeveloped within an electronic interactive framework to encourage usability and assist with manageability and record keeping. The competency framework tool is intended as a guide; the idea is for the practitioner to focus on relevant aspects of the competences and combine with organisational and individual goals and revalidation where applicable.