Disease prevention has been an important topic for years Argos Zorggroep, according to manager Nicoline van der Hagen. And even more so from corona. “I will never forget how visitors had to stay outside the walls of the nursing home. And their loved ones alone in their room behind the window. Since then, the words “close house” have had many meanings behind them. Never again! That’s partly why we wanted to have an infection preventionist (DI) in-house.’
Edward already worked at Argos Zorggroep as a higher professional nurse and started training to become a DI in 2022. He worked 3 days a week Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland. This is a recognized workplace from the Zorgopleidingen College (CZO). Nicoline was already working with this hospital. During the training, Edward worked 1 day a week at Argos Zorggroep as a DI. Now that he has a diploma, the rotation of working days is reversed. This means that he now works 3 days at Argos Zorggroep and 1 day at the hospital.
What are 3 benefits of having your own infection prevention specialist?
1. Existing advice and guidance
Current knowledge from involvement in projects, such as good hand hygiene or the correct use of gloves, for example ABR Network, he participates in consultations and the disease prevention committee. It also brings new knowledge, useful protocols and laboratory results from the hospital. It translates this knowledge and information into nursing home care.
Example: According to the instructions, you have an outbreak with 2 infected residents and you have to close a department to prevent the spread. Edward: ‘We are looking at what is still possible with customisation. Can we maybe work with face masks, so someone can still go out?’
In this way he can give special advice to the different departments about disease prevention policy. Or it can make them look at each other to see how the other has arranged something. Because he knows the nursing homes and the departments, he can also take into account the effects of construction. Or advise a cleaning agent who can, for example, clean a resident’s cupboard.
Edward: ‘I am close to direct care and can deal with the problems at that time or visit in person. In aged care it also works well to try a lot and see how you can change the behavior of staff. We are already becoming more aware that we as employees are the biggest distributors.’
You can also hire a DI person for, for example, 4 hours a week, but then it is often limited to (general) advice.
Come to the Inspiration meeting ‘Together at home in disease prevention’ on 17 June
The collaboration between healthcare professionals and informal carers, volunteers and the self-employed is central here. Be there and get knowledge and ideas about good disease prevention, also in the future! To register
2. Qualitative improvement of care and treatments
An employed DI ensures continuity, allowing you to achieve qualitative improvements in care and treatment. Nicoline: ‘Thanks to the collaboration with the hospital, we can call the hospital’s disease prevention department. For example, if Edward is absent for a longer period of time.
Examples of improvements include updating the disease prevention manual and disease prevention policies to reduce the number of outbreaks. Edward: ‘This year, for the first time, there were 2 nursing homes with a completely positive hygiene inspection! In previous years they still found deficiencies in 4 to 5 areas.’
With the hygiene scan you get a score on 30 components. This is also called an audit. Examples of components:
- worker hygiene
- storage of sterile materials
- HACCP of the department’s kitchens, this relates to risk assessment for foodstuffs
Most information also reaches the hospital first, for example about an increase in a virus. Edward: ‘Thanks to the callers, we have already seen an increase in influenza A in the Schiedam and Rotterdam area, before the RIVM warned of an epidemic. I was able to advise our own doctors early on to expand their PCR testing policy and to be vigilant about basic hygiene.’
3. MRSA registration on entry
During the training, Edward was sent on a journey to gain insight into which residents and staff might be carriers of diabetes. MRSA. MRSA is a skin bacteria.
You can identify the carriers through a risk register for new residents and workers, which you would prefer to register centrally. Finally, the MRSA outbreak is also affecting key operations for several sectors.
The most important thing is to prevent people from staying in their rooms because they are contagious. Nicoline: ‘How do you explain if, for example, someone no longer knows that a cup is a cup as a result of advanced depression? That is not possible. The consequences must be as minimal as possible for the residents.’
Cost sheet
The hospital provided work instructions. Argos Zorggroep paid the salary costs and the training costs. There is also a subsidy available for training.
Nicoline: ‘As a group you just have to have these financial resources and be willing to release them. Because of the importance we attach to disease prevention, we wanted that. On the other hand, you save costs by preventing good diseases. Consider less absenteeism in the event of an outage and less costs for replacements and supplies. What comes first in our approach is the health and well-being of the clients.’
Participate in joint work on disease prevention
Do you want to start improving hygiene and preventing diseases? The ‘Working together on disease prevention’ program is pleased to support your organization with this. Behavioral change and collaboration are central to the approach.
2024-05-09 10:07:53
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