What is SHEA (shea-online.org)?

Updated

SHEA stands for the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, a professional society whose stated mission is to improve public health by establishing infection-prevention measures and supporting antibiotic stewardship among healthcare providers. The site at shea-online.org is the organization's main hub for membership, education, guidelines, and events, and it is aimed primarily at professionals working in healthcare epidemiology, infection prevention, and antimicrobial stewardship.

What SHEA does

SHEA describes itself as a professional society that advances safe healthcare through infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship. Its work is organized around several areas visible on the site:

  • Infection prevention programs – resources and guidance for hospital and health-system prevention efforts.
  • Antimicrobial stewardship – supporting appropriate antibiotic use among providers.
  • Diagnostic stewardship – including a published resource on how hospitals can build the business case for it.
  • Outbreak preparedness and response – guidance for handling and containing outbreaks.
  • Implementation science and public health research – methods and research supporting practice change.
  • Advocacy – training, resources, and tracking of emerging legislation and regulations.

Resources and offerings

The site groups its content into a few main categories:

Area What it includes
Membership Join SHEA, member accounts, and advancement to Fellow of SHEA
Education & Training SHEA LearningCE, eLearning courses, and hands-on training
Guidelines Guidance Compendium, Pocket Guidelines, and a digital subscription
Publications ICHE and ASHE journals, podcasts, and eToC alerts
Events SHEA Spring and IDWeek
Community Journal Club, SHEA Spotlight, careers, and the SHEA Research Network

A few specific items stand out:

  • SHEA Spring is described as the premier conference for professionals in healthcare epidemiology, infection prevention, and antimicrobial stewardship, with expert-led sessions, workshops, and training courses.
  • IDWeek is the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, SHEA, the HIV Medicine Association, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
  • Penicillin Allergy Management is an interactive eLearning course covering allergy history taking, risk assessment using validated instruments, allergy testing, and delabeling.
  • ICHE and ASHE are the society's journals, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology.

Who it is for

SHEA's audience is healthcare professionals rather than the general public. If you work in or study infection prevention, healthcare epidemiology, or antimicrobial stewardship, the site's education, guidelines, and events are the most directly relevant sections. Members get access to member accounts, the Journal Club, and other community features.

Practical notes

  • Some content, such as the Pocket Guidelines Digital Subscription, is tied to a subscription, so not everything on the site is necessarily open access.
  • Membership and login are separate actions; joining SHEA and logging in are listed as distinct options.
  • The site also links to a store, a foundation, and a research network, so it functions as more than a document library.

If your goal is to understand the organization, start with the "Learn more" and "Become a Member" sections. If your goal is to use its content, the guidelines, education, and publications sections are the places to look first.