Southern Infection, Prevention and Control team celebrated
It’s Infection Prevention Week (October 18- 24) and Southern DHB is celebrating the crucial role its Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) team plays in keeping patients, staff and the community safe.
Southern DHB’s IPC team of seven has worked tirelessly over the past months supporting our hospitals and other settings.
“We’re always a busy team, but COVID-19 has taken our job to a whole new level,” says SDHB IPC Charge Nurse Manager, Jo Stodart.
“We’ve found ourselves in high demand as our expertise has been sought on every aspect of delivering safe care in the time of COVID-19.”
As soon as COVID-19 cases began to be reported from China, the teams focus shifted from its usual programme of work to reviewing the pandemic response tool kit, including policies and procedures, updating education and advice, and checking if any gaps in response needed to be addressed. A key focus was to ensure that best processes are followed at every step of a person’s journey through hospital, as well as supporting Primary Care in the process of testing, and Aged Residential Care with training and resources.
Staff received personal protective equipment (PPE) refresher training, mask-fitting advice, and the team supported the cleaning staff to ensure stringent IPC procedures were adhered to as part of their cleaning processes.
“Once the first case was announced in New Zealand the team had to be available seven days a week,” says Jo.
“Our working world, like many, required early starts and late finishes providing advice, guidance, and hands on support for staff patients and services. Our IPC team was constantly on the go from one clinical area to the next, attending meetings and our mobile phones were running hot with calls asking for advice. We also received hundreds of emails a day.”
As control of the outbreak progressed, the team continued to respond to the changing alert level by refreshing the COVID-19 processes and resources to stay aligned with the national response.
It’s slightly calmer in the IPC offices now, but the team is still very busy resurgence planning for COVID-19, and re-starting work that had been put on hold. Greater IPC support to Aged Residential Care over the next 14 months is also an exciting development.
SDHB Quality & Risk Manager, Tina Gilbertson says the leadership the team demonstrated going above and beyond at every call was outstanding. “I’m really proud of their highly valuable and ongoing work – they do an absolutely amazing job.”
“While infection prevention efforts have always involved education and communication, the current pandemic has highlighted the important role they play even more. The IPC team has gone far beyond supporting our hospitals, and this week is a chance to thank them and recognise the work they are doing.
