Ms. Soule has worked in health care for over 40 years, serving as Director of Infection Control and Epidemiology for 25 years at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington, as well as Director of Safety and Director of Quality Management Services. In these roles, she managed programs in hospital epidemiology and infection control, quality and performance improvement, risk management, clinical research, adult education, and care management services.
Ms. Soule has broad experience practicing and teaching about infection prevention and control and healthcare epidemiology, and has published extensively in this area. She served as an associate editor of the American Journal of Infection Control for 28 years, and coeditor of the Global Perspectives Section. She is a Past President of The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) (2003), and a past member of the APIC Scientific Research Committee. In 2006, she was appointed to the CDC’s Healthcare Infections Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). For the Society for Healthcare Epidemiologists of America (SHEA), she chaired the External Affairs Committee and also served on the Education Committee.
Ms. Soule has been awarded APIC’s most prestigious award, the Carol DeMille Award (1989), and the President’s Distinguished Service Award (2009). She also received the Advanced Practitioner Award for an outstanding infection preventionist from SHEA in 2009.
Ms. Soule currently serves as an international consultant for Infection Prevention and Control Services for the Joint Commission Resources (JCR) and Joint Commission International (JCI) in Oak Brook, Illinois, USA. In this capacity, she provides oversight and coordination for infection control education, consultation technical services, and publications services, working throughout the global community, Formerly as Practice Leader for Infection Prevention and Control, she coordinated with teams to develop products for infection prevention and control across multiple health care settings in the U.S. and international settings.
Personally, Ms. Soule serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Hands-On Children’s Museum (HOCM) in Olympia, Washington.
Perspectives Articles byline:
Barbara M. Soule, RN, MPA, CIC, FSHEA, FAPIC is an infection preventionist consultant and a member of the WQ&HC.