Clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners: Complementary roles for infectious disease and infection control

Abstract Background The escalation of infectious diseases worldwide heralds an unprecedented need for nurses with advanced practice graduate preparation. Objective To describe how a graduate program prepares clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners in infectious diseases or infection control to provide distinct yet complementary care for patients with contagious disease and potentially antimicrobial-resistant infections. Results The University of Washington School of Nursing launched a new master of nursing program for infectious disease and infection control to reduce the threat of infectious diseases and multiple-resistant organisms.