potential futures , as elucidated by prominent global leaders in IP & C . The authors of the paper , led by Hugo Sax , MD , who has been working for more than 20 years as a medical doctor in infectious diseases and infection prevention in Switzerland , emphasized that , “ The outlook was largely positive , harnessing the advancements in technology and medicine to enhance effectiveness and liberating IP & C professionals to actively engage at the point of care . This approach , fostered by the active involvement of IP & C professionals in both local and global leadership and by adopting a diverse range of skills , will facilitate the seamless integration and expansion of IP & C .”
Sax says the panel engaged in some creative reverse-engineering to get to their conclusions .
“ Expert panels everywhere are faced with the challenge of deciding on their strategies , and that requires thinking ahead ,” he explains . “ But not just predicting the next few steps — sometimes it ’ s about exploring all potential futures to figure out where to focus our energy . It ’ s valuable to jump ahead and imagine a more distant future , then work backward to see what steps we need to take today to achieve a desirable outcome and avoid pitfalls along the way .”
Futures-directed research is a popular undertaking in healthcare and also in much of the technology-forward fields these days , so it ’ s no surprise that IP & C professionals hope to get a glimpse of what the profession entails in the coming decade and beyond .
As Sax , et al . ( 2024 ) confirm , “ Healthcare delivery is undergoing radical changes that influence effective infection prevention and control . Futures research , the science of deliberating on multiple potential future states , is increasingly employed in many core societal fields . Futures-research might also be helpful in IP & C to facilitate current education and organizational decisions .”
Sax and colleagues at the Crystal Ball Initiative say that imagining the future of IP & C could help to reframe current IP & C-related challenges to positively influence developments and facilitate the uptake of innovation . They say that “ This could benefit decision-making for designing workforce training , revising healthcare organizational structures , investing in architectural and electronic infrastructure , and advancing science .”
The authors point to another entity with a futures-driven endgame of 2030 – the United Nations ’ Sustainable Development Goals to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all by 2030 . As Sax , et al . ( 2024 ) observe , “ The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this process and propelled IP & C to center stage . However , healthcare-associated infections ( HAIs ) continue to cause patient suffering and loss of life , prolong medical treatment , and accelerate antimicrobial resistance , despite their preventability . Over the last 25 years , numerous large-scale initiatives have been launched to address
It ’ s valuable to jump ahead and imagine a more distant future , then work backward to see what steps we need to take today to achieve a desirable outcome and avoid pitfalls along the way .” — Hugo Sax , MD