Program Overview

Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Prevention and Control, Certificate

The Certificate in Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Prevention Control is designed for junior and mid-level professionals with an interest in gaining exposure to the expertise and skills utilized by healthcare epidemiologists and infection preventionists.

Overview

The certificate is designed for master's and doctoral students at Johns Hopkins University and junior and mid-level professionals with an interest in gaining exposure to the expertise and skills utilized by healthcare epidemiologists and infection preventionists. Healthcare epidemiologists and infection preventionists aim to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections, antimicrobial-resistant and epidemiologically significant organisms, and other adverse outcomes in the healthcare setting by translating research into practice.

Educational Objectives

Upon completion of the certificate program, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate use and mastery of specific methods relating to hospital epidemiology including surveillance, outbreak management, communicable diseases, antibiotic management and resistance, occupational health, quality and performance improvement, patient safety, and ethical considerations.
2. Utilize clinical research study designs as applied to healthcare epidemiology research including outcomes measurement, risk factor assessment, semi-quantitative methods, survey methods, and qualitative research.
3. Discuss relevant thematic topics including isolation precautions and hand hygiene, infection control in special populations, healthcare system preparedness, and environmental aspects of infection control.
4. Work within groups to design studies, collect data, and effectively communicate results to clinicians and researchers from various disciplines through framing problems scientifically, determining preferred research methods, designing appropriate data collection methods, performing statistical analyses, and interpreting findings.

Sponsoring Department

Epidemiology

Admissions

Contact information and complete certificate admissions information are available on the certificate program page on the BSPH website.

Requirements for Successful Completion

The certificate requires a minimum of 18 term credits. All required and elective courses must be taken for a letter grade; a minimum grade of C is required in all certificate coursework, and students must maintain a 2.75 or better overall GPA for all certificate coursework. The certificate program length is flexible; however, the certificate must be completed within three years.

Course of Study

Students should check the Bloomberg School of Public Health course directory to confirm when courses are offered, and students should also check for prerequisites and whether instructor consent is required.

• Course List Code | Title | Credits
  ---|---|---
  PH.550.860| Academic & Research Ethics at BSPH |
  Required courses: Students must complete the following required courses
  • Introductory Epidemiology Requirement: Students must complete either 340.601 or 340.721
  • PH.340.601| Principles of Epidemiology | 5
  • PH.340.721| Epidemiologic Inference in Public Health I | 5
  • Students must complete the following required course:
  • PH.340.641| Healthcare Epidemiology | 4
    Required Core Courses: Students must complete at least two of the following core courses
  • PH.340.612| Epidemiologic Basis for Tuberculosis Control | 3
  • PH.340.627| Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases | 4
  • PH.340.653| Epidemiologic Inference in Outbreak Investigations | 3
    Elective Courses: Students must complete the 18 credit requirement through the following elective courses
  • PH.182.625| Principles of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene | 4
  • PH.221.637| Health Information Systems | 3
  • PH.306.663| Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Services Management | 3
  • PH.309.730| Patient Safety and Medical Errors | 3
  • PH.317.600| Introduction to the Risk Sciences and Public Policy | 4
  • PH.410.755| Designing Health Communication Programs for Social and Behavior Change | 4
  • PH.221.694| Applied Implementation Science for Health Systems Research | 3
  • PH.220.623| Applying a Gender Lens to Advance Implementation Research | 2

Non-degree students may waive the introductory epidemiology requirement by providing a transcript from another institution demonstrating successful completion of at least one graduate-level course in epidemiology and one in biostatistics. These students will still be required to complete the Healthcare Epidemiology course (4 credit units) and at least 14 credit units of core and elective courses.