Deborah Friberg, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of WakeMed Health and Hospitals, Raleigh, North Carolina, has been named the recipient of the first annual Healthcare Administrator Award, presented by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). The award recognizes a healthcare facility's executive team member who has demonstrated significant support for infection prevention and control throughout their facility.
Friberg was honored during an APIC ceremony commemorating International Infection Prevention Week, (IIPW), held on October 16 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, where APIC is headquartered. APIC members throughout the world viewed the program via live webcast. In receiving the award, Friberg was presented with a commemorative plaque and funding for educational products for her institution.
"We are proud to honor Deb with this award," said APIC 2009 President Christine J. Nutty, RN, MSN, CIC. "Her support has been integral to the success of WakeMed's infection prevention and control program. She has provided funding for research studies related to infection prevention and participated in state and national infection prevention collaboratives. She has also supported the addition of patient care products that while more expensive than those previously used, have been proven to help prevent infections. Not only does she provide both administrative and financial support to help the staff set and meet ambitious goals, but she also sets standards for physicians and employees by publicly displaying her commitment to infection prevention during interactions throughout the facility."
During her 14 years of leadership at WakeMed, an 810-bed not-for-profit system based in Raleigh, the infection prevention department has grown from a staff of two to a staff of seven and has become much more visible within the organization. Despite challenging economic times, Friberg recently approved the purchase of an electronic infection surveillance system to improve data collection and reduce staff time spent on surveillance and clerical tasks. Automated surveillance offers a more efficient and accurate means of obtaining healthcare-associated infection data and allows infection preventionists to improve prevention practices.