Building Capacity To Teach Infection Control and Prevention in Venezuela through Internet-Based Conferencing

• Published in: American journal of infection control 2006-06, Vol.34 (5), p.E55-E56
• Main Authors: Caniza, M.A., Aurenty, L., Perez, B., Siciliano, L., Quintana, Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0196-6553; 1527-3296
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2006.05.113

ISSUE: Infections are an important problem in hospitalized children in developing countries. Although awareness of infection control can be achieved by providing healthcare providers with education, this may be limited by staff shortages and a lack of trained educators. PROJECT: We used online communication via www.Cure4Kids.org to train infection control educators at 2 hospitals in Venezuela (Hospital JM de los Rios in Caracas and Especialidades in Maracaibo), to deliver infection control course for nurses. Hospital staff and international partners identified topics: infection control precautions, hand hygiene, patient hygiene, vascular access, disinfection, and sterilization. Content was developed as five 45-minute lectures to be delivered during a 5-hour session. We identified educators (4 nurses and 1 physician), obtained permission from the hospital's ethics committee to evaluate participants, and obtained support from the hospital administrators, the nursing department, and the local infectious disease society. Then, we developed the lectures comparing the hospital's current infection control practices with published guidelines. We used online conferencing to coach the educators in Venezuela in the delivery of their assigned lectures. Finally, the trained educators delivered the 5 lectures to the Venezuelan nurses on 2 occasions, and pre- and post-course tests were administered to participants to evaluate the educators' performance. RESULTS: From May 18 to July 8, 2006, www.Cure4Kids.org was used to host weekly meetings of the 5 educators and their 3 supervisors in 2 cities in Venezuela and the authors in Memphis. At the end of this series of meetings, the educators were proficient in their assigned topics. 113 nurses attended the lectures and the post-course test results indicated a 32.5 % increase in knowledge. The program cost US $1,900. LESSONS LEARNED: The organizers and educators valued the online planning and development of the course. Infection-control team members noted that the timing of the course was pertinent to their objectives and gave them visibility and respect from the nursing staff. Additionally, the team in Venezuela owns the course and has the materials needed to repeat it or plan a similar course. This was the first time for collaboration between the infection control teams in the 2 Venezuelan cities. Online conferencing (1) gave international educators with an opportunity to build capacity for further sustainable training at in