Educational needs and opportunities for the hospital epidemiologist.

The role of the hospital epidemiologist has changed substantially over the last 30 years as medical care has become more complex. The hospital epidemiologist needs training in methods for surveillance, prevention, and control of nosocomial infections. The hospital epidemiologist also must know how to apply these methods to other areas, including the epidemiology of noninfectious adverse outcomes of medical care. Training in hospital epidemiology should be a defined part of every infectious disease fellowship training program. Ancillary and additional training is available from several sources.