IPAC: now more than ever

By Henrietta Van hulle

Infection prevention and control (IPAC) has been a core component of healthcare health and safety programs for as long as anyone can remember. Though the tools and options have changed over the years and even decades, pandemic or no pandemic, the goal has been the same, safe staff, patients and residents and their families.

With COVID, and all its variants, RSV and seasonal flu running rampant, infection prevention and control has become part of everyday language. It’s frequently in the headlines as stories of healthcare systems are stretched to the breaking point. (Could one ever have imagined a point where a hospital calls a Code Orange – without a mass casualty incident – or where children’s respite and palliative care staff have to be redeployed to address a surge in patients hospitalized with respiratory viruses.)

While some specific infections are making headlines, there are still so many others that remain a threat to both patients, families, residents, and healthcare workers and their families, and are fought on a daily basis both in health and community care settings. These could include MRSA, C Difficile, VRE, TB and scabies to name just a few.

View From An Institutional Occupational Health And Safety Lens

The risks are clear. The emergence of new infectious diseases

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The need for enhanced infection prevention while maintaining budgets has pushed facility management to rethink their environmental health & safety results. With “cleaning for health” as the new standard, efficient and effective processes are key. A precision cleaning approach and smart technology help monitor and measure performance to optimize returns and resources.

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Learn More about how Optisolve can provide your team with cleaning validation at optisolve.net/industries/health-care and their ever-evolving variants, potential re-emergence of past diseases and ongoing threats of other respiratory hazards has highlighted the need for individuals and health and community care organizations to monitor and act.

The steps individuals must take have been made especially clear in the last almost three years. Wear and remove your PPE correctly, complete a pointof-care assessment, practice appropriate hand hygiene, and follow contact, droplet and airborne precautions.

BUT HOW CAN ORGANIZATIONS BETTER PREVENT AND CONTROL INFECTION RISKS?

The Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA) (the provincial occupational health and safety training and consulting organization serving the government, public safety, education and healthcare sectors) has a number of tools and resources to help. Occupational health and infection prevention & control practices go hand in hand to ensure workers and the patients they care for remain safe. They both require organizations to start with a risk assessment to ensure they are prepared for any potential hazards that can affect the organization. In many cases an infectious disease threat can negatively impact both workers and patients/ clients if not properly controlled.

PSHSA offers self-serve options for organizations in the public sector to complete their own risk assessment including

• General Workplace Infectious Disease Risk Assessment Tool

This tool, found at https://bit.ly/PSHSA-IDRA, can assist organizations in building capacity to identify, assess and manage infectious disease threats.

• Infectious Disease Threat – Organizational Risk Assessment Tool for Acute Care

This tool was designed to enable the systems, structures, skills and culture to maintain readiness and to better protect healthcare workers, patients, residents, families and all Ontarians. It follows a six-step risk management process and is divided into two worksheets: risk identification and analysis and risk assessment and management. The tool can be found at https://bit.ly/PSHSA-IDRA-AC.

Infectious disease prevention and control isn’t just important in healthcare settings. Emergency services workers providing healthcare on the streets are exposed to infectious disease risks, so police, fire and paramedic services workers must have 24 hour access to a designated officer.

Designated officers are:

• the emergency services worker’s representative in investigating all reported exposures to communicable diseases.

• Support for the emergency services worker following an occupational exposure to a communicable disease

• A liaison with the public health unit PSHSA delivers the provincial designated officer training program and a self-assessment designed to help emergency services and justice services organizations evaluate their designated officer program. More information about the designated officer training can be found at https:// www.pshsa.ca/courses/designated-officer-training

While the highest risk has traditionally been the healthcare workplaces, there are other infectious disease risks that affect other sectors. To find out more about your sectors risk, check out the PSHSA’s is free elearning program at https://bit.ly/ PSHSA-IPAC.

Once a risk assessment has been completed, the organization must implement a program to ensure their staff are protected. One cornerstone protective measure that we all became aware of during the past three years is the need to prevent droplets and aerosols from entering our airways.

In some cases that require the use of masks, but when providing direct care to patients or clients with infections, a higher level of protection by using a respirator is needed, and respirators require specific fit testing (as per the CSA Standard Z94.4-18). To address the need, the PSHSA developed its Training the Fit Tester for Respiratory Protection program. It provides participants with the knowledge and skills required to conduct qualitative fit testing on their own staff. If your staff may need to wear a respiratorfind out more at https://bit.ly/PSHSA-TTFT.

In The End

All levels within the healthcare system, including policy makers, facility managers healthcare workers and those accessing health services have to be committed to providing constant attention to IPAC. IPAC is unique in the field of patient safety and quality of care, as it is univer - sally relevant to every healthcare worker, patient and resident, at every healthcare interaction. Without effective IPAC it is impossible to achieve quality healthcare delivery and impossible to protect staff, patients, residents and their families and yours.

For more information about the PSHSA, its infection prevention and control training and tools or consulting services, please visit our website at PSHSA.ca (https://bit.ly/PSHSA-Consulting), call 416-250-2131 or email clientexperiences@pshsa.ca. n H