Ginger Parker, M.B.A.
EPINet Program Manager
EDUCATION
B.A., Clemson University
M.B.A., Auburn University
Ginger Parker has managed the Center's EPINet program since 2000. She re-designed and enhanced EPINet, a surveillance system that tracks sharps injuries and blood and body fluid exposures to healthcare workers, bringing the original 1992 DOS program into a Microsoft Access application. Ginger also upgraded specialized versions of EPINet for the OR and dialysis centers.
Under Ginger's direction, the international distribution and translation of EPINet has expanded from five countries in three languages to 83 countries in 23 languages. Because healthcare practices and terminology can vary among countries, Ginger works with users abroad to customize EPINet for a specific country's needs, while insuring consistency and compatibility among the many versions and translations. She works closely with frontline users of EPINet, including physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel, as well as representatives from national ministries of health, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (part of the CDC).
Ginger's responsibilities include providing technical support and conducting training for EPINet users in the U.S. and abroad, and overseeing the collaborative research database that the Center maintains. Each year she gathers and merges exposure data from participating U.S. hospitals and generates the annual EPINet Needlestick & Sharp-Object Injury report and EPINet Blood and Body Fluid Exposure report, which include the average sharps injury rate and blood and body fluid exposure rate. These data are widely used for benchmarking purposes by healthcare facilities throughout the US.
Ginger collaborated on the development of three survey instruments and the corresponding data analysis programs: Blood Exposures among Healthcare Workers, Blood Exposures among Surgeons, and Blood Exposures Among Anesthesiologists. The first survey has been translated into French and Spanish.
Ginger is the co-author of numerous articles with colleagues at the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center.