The world has registered a tremendously growing trend in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) over the last decade. Recent HAI incidents include the 2009 flu pandemic and the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Most recently, there has been the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. All these pandemics have exposed varied gaps in clinicians’ knowledge levels of preventive approaches for combating HAI spread within healthcare settings. There is a need to promote healthcare delivery systems designed and managed to mitigate the risks of HAIs among patients and clinical professionals. Infection prevention and control (IPC) education offers public health systems a science-based and practical framework for mitigating HAI impacts on patients and clinicians at the community, national, regional, and global levels. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed teaching plan that will guide healthcare organizations to train healthcare workers on how to identify possible HAI causes and transmission methods, undertake risk recognition and its importance to patient safety, identify the hierarchy of controls and how each reduces infections, and acquire IPC core components and the ability to apply them to enhance infection prevention. Finally, this paper will equip healthcare leaders with a framework for assessing the teaching outcomes of the proposed IPC program.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) pose one of the most detrimental threats to the effectiveness of healthcare systems, mainly because the occurrence of endemics and pandemics poses significant burdens to effective healthcare delivery. Dadi, Radochová et al. (2021) outline that while a substantial portion of HAIs are preventable and despite sufficient data demonstrating the effectiveness of awareness creation in their prevention, HAIs still have significant morbidity and mortality outcomes across societies. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2022) estimates that up to 7% of patients in developed healthcare systems and 10% in developing economies acquire at least one type of HAI in their lifetimes while acquiring treatment or care within health facilities. In the United States, the CDC approximates that 1 in 31 patients in care facilities contract at least one infectious illness at any given time, leading to more than 680,000 infections annually. HAIs not only cause deaths and disabilities among patients and clinical professionals, but they also increase the cost of healthcare, as well as the unprecedented spread of antibiotic resistance across populations. Despite their detrimental effects, the WHO (2022) estimates that implementing effective infection prevention and control strategies can reduce up to 30% of HAI incidences. Clinical professionals must be educated on practical approaches to prevent HAI transmissions within care facilities.
Infection prevention and control (IPC) education has been identified as the most effective, evidence-based framework to guide clinicians, other professionals, patients, and all stakeholders on actionable practices and protocols to prevent infections and curb their spread in the healthcare delivery environment. Alhumaid et al. (2021) outline that IPC literacy in the healthcare setting is a crucial tool to enhance healthcare workers’ knowledge of pathogens’ transmission routes, including airborne, droplet, and contact transmission. Further, IP education is essential for improving healthcare workers’ standard knowledge of standard precautionary practices aimed at improving personal hygiene, use of protective clothing, including face masks, hand gloves, respiratory hygiene, and safe injection practices that can help clinical professionals to keep infections at bay and minimize the spread of HAIs within practice settings (Alhumaid et al., 2021). An effective IPC model is also crucial for providing the knowledge necessary for promoting isolation precautions and environmental cleaning and disinfection practices within clinical settings. (Moralejo et al., 2019) outline that healthcare professionals without prior IPC experiences are likely to have less literacy on the best preventive practices for handling patients with proven or suspected HAI cases or the importance of observing strict sterilization and disinfection protocols and processes while handling patients, to reduce infection risks and to avoid contamination of surfaces within care facilities—lastly, IPC literacy foundational goal of promoting antimicrobial stewardship within healthcare environments. Salam et al. (2023) establish that healthcare facilities that emphasize IPC literacy need to be equipped with the skills needed to become agents to promote prevention measures against antimicrobial resistance. These factors make it necessary to advance IPC education for healthcare workers within care settings.
Printed and internet sources are crucial for enabling IPC literacy within hospitals because they provide evidence for the suggested strategies for reducing HAI infection and transmission rates. One of the considerations when selecting printed and internet-based material is its relevance and accuracy. Curless (2019) outlines that the material selected to support IPC instruction should be based on current and relevant material, based on evidence approved by international and local health regulatory structures like the CDC or WHO. However, nurses must adapt and tailor the evidence provided in such materials to meet the specific needs of each clinical professional group. Further, nurses should ensure that the materials used are accessible and user-friendly. To achieve this dimension, the reference material chosen should be in a clear and concise format to foster understandability, incorporate visual aids to enhance engagement and memorability, and have interactive features like simulation videos (for website-based materials) or case study quizzes for printed material (Alhumaid et al., 2021). Lastly, nurses should consider the practical applicability of the printed or online material they incorporate into their IPC instruction process. This criterion entails assessing whether the recommendations provided in the text are actionable in the context of the specific healthcare facility or other real-life scenarios in which IPC literacy is required to guide healthcare professionals’ decision-making processes (Ghorbanmovahhed et al., 2023). As such, nurses must thoroughly assess the chosen content materials based on the considerations above to foster the quality of IPC education outcomes.
Nurses need to assess and identify the learning needs of each healthcare professional prior to engaging them in the implementation of the IPC instruction process. Doing so is crucial because it helps nurses consider the participants’ existing knowledge and skill levels and the specific IPC areas that must be improved for the effective prevention and control of HIAs (Zhou et al., 2024). One of the practical approaches to effectively assess and identify the target group’s learning needs is to undertake a baseline competency assessment. This framework requires that nurses conduct a knowledge assessment, which entails evaluating participants’ current knowledge levels on various IPC competencies, like hand hygiene techniques or standard practices and precautions for HIA prevention (Zhou et al., 2024). Strategies that enhance knowledge assessment include surveys or quizzes and pretest assessments that can provide valuable insights to gauge professionals’ baseline knowledge levels on essential IPC competencies (Sannathimmappa et al., 2023). Nurses can also evaluate and identify the healthcare professionals’ learning needs by observing their practice and performance over time. This can be achieved by observing the standard IPC practices vis-à-vis the recommended evidence-based best practices.
| Learning Objectives | Content Outline (Lesson 1-6) | Time (Lesson 1-6) | Teaching Strategies (Lesson 1-6) | Evaluation Methods (Lesson 1-6) |
| To introduce clinical professionals to infection prevention and control (IPC), its importance within clinical settings, its relevance to established regulatory standards, patients’ and workers’ safety, and treatment and care outcomes. | Lesson 1- Introduction to Infection Prevention and Control (IPC):
-Relevance of IPC to healthcare delivery facilities -How do HAIs impact patient outcomes? -How does IPC relate to current regulations and accreditation? |
60 minutes | –Integrate visual highlights with interactive presentations in the initial stages.
– Leverage case studies and demonstrative examples to explain the relevance of IPC in improving patient outcomes. -Engage healthcare workers using simple Q&A sessions to gauge their understanding of IPC and its relevance to patient safety. |
–Observe and assess participants based on their level of engagement throughout the introductory section of the program.
–Assess the level of knowledge acquisition by administering pre- and post-assessment. –Administer feedback forms to gauge each participant’s understanding of the relationship between IPC practices and overall patient outcomes. |
| To enhance healthcare professionals’ knowledge levels on how different HAIs spread by familiarizing them with different pathogenic microorganisms associated with various HAIs, discuss the different modes of transmission and their chains of infection. | Lesson 2-Infection Transmission:
-Basic microbiology and overview of common pathogens. -The chain of pathogenic infection. -Understanding the modes of transmission. |
60 minutes | –Leverage pictures, videos, and animations to enhance participants’ understanding of basic microbiology concepts and infection transmission pathways.
-Download or streamline multimedia showing simulations or real-life experiments illustrating the chain of infection for various pathogenic agents. -Engage participants in discursive gatherings to enhance understanding of different pathogen types and their characteristics. |
–Administer quizzes to get an insight into the participants’ understanding of disease-causing microorganisms, modes of transmission, and the specific chain of transmission.
–Guide participants through practical exercises to assess their levels of knowledge in identifying specific pathogens and their transmission routes. –Introduce relevant case studies at group levels to facilitate discussions on real-life scenarios associated with various pathogen types and their infection models. |
| To bring to the attention of healthcare professionals the relevance of hand hygiene practices in enhancing overall infection prevention outcomes, and equip them with the proper knowledge of effective hand hygiene techniques. | Lesson 3: The Principles of Hand Hygiene
-Why is hand hygiene important in infection prevention? -Basic hand washing techniques -Alcohol-based hand sanitizers -Basic timing for hygiene (when to clean hands). |
60 | –Use hands-on demonstration to show participants the basic approaches to effective hand washing.
–Use role-playing techniques to enhance participants’ knowledge and understanding of the basics of hand hygiene. -Download/create and leverage visual aids, mainly infographics, to help reinforce basic hand hygiene practices. |
–Conduct personalized direct observation of each participant’s hand hygiene practices before and after lessons.
–Assess participants’ knowledge levels based on their ability to demonstrate proper hand hygiene in scenario-based simulations. -Administer surveys or questionnaire surveys to acquire insights on participants’ self-reported adherence to taught hand hygiene. |
| To equip participants with the proper knowledge of various PPE types and how they relate to IPC, their utilization frameworks, and approaches to effective disposal for effective HAI prevention and control. | Lesson 4 The Basics of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):
-Why is PPE relevant to HAI prevention? -Available PPE types When and how to use PPE types -Importance of approaches to donning and doffing. -How to dispose of used PPEs? |
90 minutes | –Incorporate hands-on demonstrations to enhance understanding of the correct usage and fitting of different PPE types.
-Use real-life mock scenarios to guide participants on the best protocols and practices for effective donning and doffing. –Direct participants to the best learning sites to acquire demonstrative videos or simulations of the standard PPE use mistakes and how to avoid or mitigate them. |
–Assess PPE knowledge by observing their ability to demonstrate the accurate donning and doffing techniques while using PPE.
–Engage clinical simulations to assess whether participants acquired adequate knowledge of scenario-specific PPE use for infection prevention. –Administer oral quizzes to assess personal knowledge level on PPE aspects like types, disposal procedures, or use criteria. |
| To equip participants with the proper knowledge of acceptable precautionary standards and their relevance to effective infection control within clinical settings. | Lesson 5- Standard IPC precautionary procedures in the hospitals:
-Defining and justifying the need for standard precautions. -How to apply standard precautionary procedures within the healthcare facility. -How to observe environmental health and surface disinfection protocols to minimize infections. -Basic waste management procedures for infection prevention. |
90 minutes | –Engage participants using role-playing sessions to help them understand the scenarios and situations that necessitate standard precautionary procedures.
-Incorporate interactive workshops on environmental hygiene and health and basic surface disinfection strategies to enhance real-time learning of best practices. –Leverage collaborative projects to bring participants together to develop an actionable standard precaution protocol suitable for their typical facility. |
–Leverage case studies to assess participant abilities to determine the precautionary standards not followed in a given instance while providing remedy actions to ensure patient safety.
–Observe and pay attention to participants’ adherence to taught precautionary standards like surface cleaning or disinfection practices. |
| To equip healthcare professionals with the knowledge of the principles of antibiotic stewardship and the competencies to advance rational antibiotic use, overcome antibiotic resistance, and de-escalate unnecessary antibiotic use among themselves and patients. | Lesson 6-The Basic Principles of Antibiotic Stewardships:
-What is antibiotic resistance, and why is it relevant to infection prevention? -What are the defining principles of antibiotic stewardship? -Why should healthcare workers care about antibiotics and de-escalation frameworks? -What roles should healthcare workers play in reducing antibiotic resistance in and out of healthcare facilities? |
90 minutes | –Provide and borrow from up-to-date antibiotic resistance literacy modules to enhance foundational learning on the principles of antibiotic stewardship.
–Invite the participation of pharmaceutical scientists from within or outside the facility to facilitate interactive learning on the best practices for fostering antibiotic use and stewardship. –Leverage role-playing scenarios to facilitate collective learning while helping clinical workers understand best practices in antibiotic prescription and opportunities for antibiotic de-escalation practices. |
-Conduct surveys prior to and after to gain insights into each participant’s knowledge levels and the importance of antibiotic stewardship among healthcare professionals.
-Closely monitor and record each participant’s antibiotic prescription practices after the lesson to gain insights into their stewardship abilities. -Trace and record individual antibiotic usage to assess whether the stewardship lessons had a significant impact on clinicians’ self-protection efforts. |
In the face of the unprecedented proliferation of epidemics and Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), nurses must engage in initiatives that help to prevent susceptible patients, healthcare workers, and members of the public from acquiring pathogenic microorganisms within healthcare settings. Prevention is particularly crucial in clinical settings where the day-to-day healthcare procedures often increase the risk of HAI transmission and put larger populations at risk of getting infected or transmitting infections to other people. This teaching framework outlines an actionable six-lesson education and training for nurses to deliver effective infection prevention and control to other healthcare professionals within an organization. The framework reveals the objectives and content of each lesson but also outlines the teaching strategies and evaluation approaches relevant to each lesson component to foster behaviour change toward safe and effective IPC practices within healthcare facilities. It is worth noting, however, that to achieve successful implementation within specific healthcare facilities, nurses must align their teaching practices with clear and strong leadership that can support organization-wide behavioural change. Only then can IPC education programs succeed in effective infection prevention plans.
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