A Day In The Life Of An APIC Board Member

I am always amazed at how much we can learn from children. Some how in the innocence of their years and their ability to resist some of the challenges we face as adults like group think, peer group pressure, stress and deadlines children can make fantastic role models. There is a lot that modern healthcare could learn from watching kids’ behaviours.

Yesterday I spent the day teaching nurses the fundamentals of infection prevention. The course was run in Brisbane by AUSMED (www.ausmed.com.au) and it’s one that Sue Resnik and I teach at least twice a year. Yesterday’s group were all nurses. Our common goal was to be better at infection prevention at the end of the day compared to the beginning. Throughout the day we had a few good laughs as experiences were recounted and stories shared. Here is my favourite story of the day told to me by a very proud Grandmother working in infection prevention.

Last month this Grandmother’s 6 year old Grandson came to visit Brisbane and the Gold Coast from his home in Auckland, New Zealand. The little boy’s holiday included the sights of Brisbane city and no doubt some of thefun things for kids here on the Coast like Movie World, Sea World, Dreamworld and perhaps even a spot of whale or dolphin watching from one of our gorgeous beaches.

At some stage of his holiday the young boy watched his Grandmother pull out of her pocket and use an alcohol based hand gel, the domestic type not our hospital product. The hand gel fascinated the little boy and he asked his Grandmother to explain what she was doing, what the purpose of the gel was and what did she hope to achieve. (Imagine someone being that interested in hand hygiene – an Infection Preventionist’s dream). Like a good Grandmother she explained about germs and antisepsis and the grandchild was delighted when he had the opportunity to first use the product.

Wind forward a few weeks and the little fella returns to Auckland and attends school. It’s show and tell day and the little boy stands up in front of his peers and he proceeds to tell about the best part of his holiday to Australia. You guessed it. No mention is made of the theme parks, the beaches or any of the other tourist attractions here in Queensland. Rather the 6-year old proceeds to tell all his class mates about the gel and then he demonstrates how to use it for them and tells them why it’s important to perform hand hygiene regularly. The kids are riveted and the teacher pleased and amused.

Our young recruit is very special, part of a Gifted and Talented class at his local school. Not surprisingly he ends his “show and tell” recommending that the class immediately institute a “gel-based hand hygiene programme” (my words not his). What he managed to design and achieve was the implementation of a bracket and a large bottle of gel which each child uses befre leaving the classroom for each of their play and meal breaks. The kids love the gel and use it with passion.

Your typical infection preventionist might be happy to stop at this point but your above average 6-year old isn’t. Enjoying the success of his program he goes to the administrator (school principal) puts forward his business case and requests that every classroom be supplied with a gel bottle and each student encouraged to use the gel before every break. The principal loves the idea and the school is now probably one of the most hand hygiene conscience of any in the Southern hemisphere.

What a great and inspiring story. Who says that one small boy with one bright idea and one switched on Grandma can’t make a difference? In 30 years time when I’m older and probably consuming healthcare along with the other Boomers I want this boy to be the Infection Preventionist keeping me safe. Move over Semmelweis the kids are coming through.

For more information on global hand hygiene promotion visit http://www.who.int/gpsc/tools/en/ or www.apic.org Australia is in the early stages of launching its national hand hygiene campaign. I wonder if they have room for a 6-year old Project Director.

In 2008 there are more countries with dedicated local and/or national programs designed to reduce or eliminate healthcare associated infections (HAIs) than at any other time in history. Interestingly the global infection control stage is becoming more crowded as non-traditional players including claim infection control expertise at either individual or organisational level. High level campaigns of global magnitude are becoming more common and regional organisations such as the Asia-Pacific Society of Infection Control (APSIC) continue to grow in membership size and influence. Additionally, the WHO has signalled its intention to establish multiple Infection Control Collaborating Centres. More interestingly, some see US-based organisations such as the Association for Practitioners in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (APIC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as continuing to have substantial influence in shaping our profession. Recent provocative US lead initiatives such as the impending change to reimbursement and the promulgation of the title “Infection Preventionist” will inevitably also influence the growth and direction of Australian infection control. I would strongly encourage all Australian ICPs to stay abreast of recent, critical global infection prevention trends and initiatives as well as they will inevitable impact us.      

What a great event the New Zealand (NZ) National Division of Infection Control Nurses hosted from 13^th-15^th August in Hamilton in the North Island. NZ Infection Control Practitioners (ICPs) are a really enthusiastic group of professionals. I first attended their annual conference in the early 1990s and have had the distinct pleasure of being invited back several times since. This 2008 conference was fantastic and a testimony to how much progress the ICPs have made in the past few years.

While infection prevention practice in NZ is similar to that here in Australia, the NZ ICPs have faced and conquered some unique challenges different to ours. NZ geography means that getting together for face-to-face meetings can be difficult. As a result many members make the effort to attend the annual conference and to use that as their best opportunity to network and update on cutting edge research and trends.

Being such a small country in terms of population (the old joke goes something along the lines of there are more sheep in NZ than people!) it means that NZ is an even smaller dot on the global medical industry market than Australia.  Australia is less than 1% of the global market so NZ must be closer to zero. Given that figure it is difficult for NZ to garner any overwhelming support from medical manufacturers although several do generously support the Division year after year. Interestingly, NZ does not yet have tough regulations regarding medical devices. Australia has a statutory body, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, (TGA) which tests medical devices and supportive claims prior to approving them for marketing and use in Australia. The TGA operates similarly to the US FDA. Without this safeguard NZ is often seen by manufacturers as the perfect test site – easy to enter and reasonably well developed to be useful in predicting trends. This can mean that ICPs in NZ have to be extra vigilant in their efforts to keep up with products used in their facilities to prevent inadvertent use of unsafe or harmful equipment or products. In the very near future Australia and NZ will join and harmonise their approach to medical device regulation and both countries will benefit from that process.

And there are many more stories about ICPs from “across the ditch”. Our Kiwi friends are some of the friendliest ICPs in the world. They love to party and every year their conference social event is a themed dinner. This year’s theme was “Showboat”. I have never seen so much taffeta, silk, ribbons,  bows  and ICPs all in the same place. What a great night it was.

We were also blessed to have the Immediate Past APIC President, Denise Murphy, as one of the keynote speakers at the conference. What a great job she did in “bridging the gap” too. No doubt opportunities for ICPs all around the world to meet and share their experiences will increase over the next few decades. Given it’s strong history and this most recent example, I have no doubt that the NZ annual conference will remain a constant source of inspiration to local and international ICPs. Visit them next year from 26-29^th August and you too can experience the WOW of NZ.