INFECTION PREVENTION & WOUNDCARE
“There have been several outbreaks, like the haemolytic uraemic syndrome, the beansprout (E. coli infection) cases, cholera has been a problem over the year, the eggs that came from Spain with salmonella. I’ve highlighted some of these outbreaks to show how things can start in one country and spread to another.”
Keeping on top
Whilst this wider outlook is important for improving infection control, smaller prob- lems found every day in hospitals must also be addressed. Bacteria are increas- ingly developing resistance to our current treatments, and this can represent one of the biggest challenges in infection control.
Wiseman said: “Infection control for most people is nearer to home, so we’re also con- centrating on the daily problems of trying to protect patients, relatives and staff from the everyday organisms and the increas- ing problems that we’re seeing with bacte- rial resistance. Just as we think we’re get- ting on top of something like MRSA, then something else causes us problems.
“Every day there is something new to think about. It’s very diffi cult for people doing the job every day, concentrating on the hospi- tal or the community you’re working in and maybe not thinking about it as a global is- sue. We really need to talk to people about what drives our infection control practice
locally, nationally and internationally.
“NRIC started out as a national project, with national guidance and policy and the latest evidence. But we’ve increasingly had to include international information on it because that’s what guides our practice as well. This global collaboration is really quite important, and I think it’s becoming more important. Hopefully, if we all work together and learn from each other then that will help bring strength.”
Research around what practice is needed to control these organisms is done to help counter growing infection resistance. NRIC aims to highlight this research, especially in Infection Control Week, to both patients and staff.
Access to information
Wiseman said: “The RCN has just put out a poster and a booklet about guidance on the management of PV Staphylococcus aureus. The problems with community MRSA, that’s certainly something that’s increasingly be- coming a problem. MRSA produces a toxin which tends to cause problems in close-knit communities like boarding schools or army barracks, things like that.
“It’s bringing that to people’s attention, to make sure that although we need to con- tinue to keep our eye on everything, we’re not all just concentrating on MRSA and
C.diffi cile: there are new things that we need to be aware of. That’s what NRIC does really, trying to update people on what’s there in an easy format so people can fi nd the information quickly and easily and not have to go through half a dozen websites to fi nd it.
“On a daily basis we provide the website that updates people with any health news. On Facebook, we send out important informa- tion documents, we send out an e-newslet- ter once a month, we have about 3,000-plus users who have signed up for that, and we have about 5,000 unique visitors to the site every month.
“The uniqueness of NRIC is that you don’t need a password – it’s freely available to anybody, not just health staff. Patients and relatives can fi nd information on it. It pulls together all the information from all the websites that you would normally have to go to, to see what new evidence is available. We also do some work at conferences to get out there and let people know about NRIC and how it can make life easier for them.”
NRIC measures the success of the service it provides, Wiseman added, to ensure that the information it circulates has a signifi - cant impact on health professionals within the NHS. It is also important to continue this work throughout the year, not con- tained to just one week.
She said: “We do an evaluation on NRIC to see if more people are visiting the site dur- ing that week, and certainly our traffi c in- creases. We have done several evaluations to see if people are looking for information more in that week.
“Certainly in hospitals, it’s an opportunity for staff to highlight what they do all year round with infection prevention and con- trol. You would hope that staff are taking the opportunity to do that. Some hospitals really take it on board whole-heartedly, doing things like trolley runs, hand wash- ing displays and exhibitions. Going around the wards and giving out leafl ets, talking to people about infection control week.
“It’s trying to get people focused on infec- tion prevention and control. It isn’t just a one week thing, staff are thinking about it all year round as part of their practice, but this is a week to high- light that.”
Sue Wiseman
FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit
www.nric.org.uk
national health executive Sep/Oct 11 | 57
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104