Lots of reasons! Here are just a few…
The team are focusing on standardisation throughout the hospitals of items such as cleaning products. This is partly due to an increase in C-Difficile nationwide which means that infection prevention and control is vital. Although the team are all quite new to their roles, they have already been able to standardise wipes used throughout the hospital.
All staff now use the same style of wipe for bedpans and commodes, and another one for medical devices to ensure correct usage.
Gloves have also been standardised throughout the hospital. Staff were using vinyl gloves but these should actually only be used for food. Nitrile gloves are now being used for chemicals and bodily fluid, thanks to the work of the team.
The team are improving standardisation by improving education throughout the hospital about ways of working. They believe that it is all about learning lessons from events which have occurred previously and making sure that these don’t happen again.
They are obviously focusing on preventing these occurrences before they take place to remove any potential harm to patients. This includes simple tasks such as improving education around correct hand hygiene as well as ensuring use of the gels when leaving and entering a ward area. Although these sound like simple things; when people don’t see a direct risk of infection (i.e. chicken pox) they aren’t as scrutinised as they should be at ensuring complete hygiene.The team recognise the importance of shared learning and collaboration across the hospital in issues management such as hand hygiene. They want to make sure everyone is aware of the dangers and risks of not having correct standards in place. The team worked exceptionally well throughout the winter flu period and performed as a team with no areas closed throughout the hospitals. This was due to collaboration with the bed management team in prioritisation of single rooms, isolation where necessary and standardising cleaning across Preston and Chorley. Current multi-disciplinary team projects include the implementation of an MRSA care plan; working with ward staff.
They are also conducting a UTI collaborative with ward 10 staff and NHSI to improve catheter care. This includes a focus on hydration of patients by having different coloured lids for various drinks to be able to easily identify levels of support needed for the patient.
The focus is also on working to change processes around the hospital to ensure that beds are not being used to transfer patients around the hospital due to risk of infection from mattresses which have not been thoroughly cleaned. Patients should be transferred on trolleys and chairs and the team want to ensure that this is always happening where possible.
The team are also developing an e-learning tool for infection prevention; which will be used to improve education to all staff about the importance of infection prevention and ways and means to ensure the prevention of infection.
The team now have three to four students a week conducting placements with them, compared to hardly any previously. A huge testament to the team. More education is being provided to students who are able to have a wider and more thorough understanding of the importance and procedures around infection control and can pass this on when they continue to work more widely. All of this will be in the e-learning tool for staff nurses to increase this education as they may not have been through anything like this previously.
The team is also growing with the addition of a healthcare worker role to work on audits and documentation. The team are rightly very proud of all of the hard work that they have done and what they have achieved in a short space of time, despite high pressures and low staffing, particularly within the flu season