WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
schools, possibly something like meningitis B. The scale and scope of COVID created issues that we never contemplated. Another issue that was a massive chal-
lenge for all institutions was the availability of PPE (personal protective equipment). The early confusion about how PPE should be utilized both in healthcare and by the public combined with the critical shortages was a massive issue. Additionally, we learned quite a bit about
how porous and diffuse our workforce is in the senior living community where we saw how intermeshed workers were between communities. This created a large challenge in managing the spread of COVID-19 and highlighted the need for elevated infection prevention mechanisms. The pandemic also revealed that infec-
tion prevention is everyone’s business and that we must make infection prevention a core strategy in senior living communities and across the entire continuum of health- care. One key learning is that we must find a way to embed infection prevention exper- tise in each organization and build effective infection prevention teams in facilities to ensure each organization has the capacity to respond swiftly to emerging threats. We must also ensure that everyone in our
communities have proper training, from the maintenance crew all the way up to the administrators. Having an infection preven- tion team approach in place helps ensure
The pandemic revealed that infec tion prevention is everyone’s business and that we must make infection prevention a core
strategy...across the entire continuum of health care.
that if there’s a crisis, we know how to react and can do so swiftly.
Q. What do you see as some issues to address to be better prepared for the future? A. Having infection prevention expertise on staff is a critical learning through the pan- demic. Not everyone is an infectious disease expert, and having a medical degree alone doesn’t make someone an infectious disease expert. Also, we saw that organizations were really hungry for information through the pandemic—and the information they got wasn’t always the best. We must create a structure to ensure that we have the right expertise onboard providing the best guid- ance possible. Ensuring that organizations have effec-
tive PPE stockpiled and also test supply chains for multiple sources for PPE is going to be a crucial learning from the pandemic. From a CEO perspective, I understand
the challenge of justifying the elevated ex- penses related to infection prevention.
It’s not always a clear-cut value propo-
sition, but we learned that not having this infrastructure in place can lead to tragic results. Communities must look at their IP infrastructure as key investments into safeguarding their communities. Infection prevention must be at the center of all se- nior living communities’ cultures.
Q. We’re seeing a lot of that now. What's next? A. I think the next phase of this pandemic will be the retrospective review of what went wrong. I recommend communities start doing a “hotwash” or review now—even though we’re not out of COVID yet—to get a group together that starts looking at lessons learned and develop a game plan to strengthen and harden infection prevention going forward. It’s hard to do while we’re still in it, but it’s so important to do this while it is fresh in our minds. [Leaders] must be champions for this work and helping to ensure that the lessons learned get implemented to strengthen our communities’ future responses.
ABOUT INFECTION PREVENTIONISTS
“Infection preventionists work to prevent healthcare-associated infections by isolating sources of infections and developing and implementing evidence-based practices to prevent and contain the spread of dangerous organisms,” APIC states. “They practice across myriad health care settings including hospitals, outpatient clinics, long-term care, and ambulatory surgery centers.”
Infection preventionists are from a wide range of health care professions—nurses, physician, medical technologists, or public health professionals, to name a few. Many hold Certification in Infection Prevention and Control (CIC).
Because knowledge in the field is constantly advancing with new challenges and discoveries, continuing education is a must. More industries—such as hospitality, travel, manufacturing, and food service—are adding infection preventionists to their roster of professionals as they seek increased protection from risks to the public and employees.
JULY/AUGUST 2021
ARGENTUM.ORG 35
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
