Excellence in Staff Development St John WA Infection Prevention and Control Champion (IPCC) Program

St John WA

Specialising in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) has traditionally been the remit of nursing and hospitalbased settings; however, COVID-19 highlighted the need to expand IPC knowledge and expertise into other nonhospital organisations, especially ambulance services. Healthcare-associated infection (HAI) affects nearly one in 10 patients and puts healthcare workers at risk, so breaking the chain of infection in the face of such a highly contagious and deadly novel virus as COVID-19 became critical to St John Western Australia’s (SJWA) 8000-strong workforce.

Over the course of the pandemic, SJWA recognised the need to build IPC capacity and capability in the frontline workforce to support the organisation’s IPC Specialist who was continually engaged in various department/staff requests for assistance. In WA alone there have been more than 100 clinical updates since the pandemic began, not including the numerous national documents and guidelines, as each hospital has its own procedure which frequently changed, as well as non-health organisations such as residential aged care facilities, ports, airports and quarantine hotels. The early guidelines were often hospital-centric and needed reworking for emergency services, while SJWA was also hampered by unsuitable personal protective equipment and sanitisers due to supply shortages.

As staff shortages and competition also proved a problem, Clinical Services created the IPC Champion program to establish mentorship and training in developing frontline IPC champions/advocates. Due to the success of the IPCC program, which ran from November 2021 to December 2022, it has now been supported to continue over the next five years.

The IPCC program consists of a four-month secondment in Clinical Services to work alongside the IPC Specialist to increase the champion’s IPC knowledge and skills, which are then transferrable to their clinical area and other business units. Individuals working in this role become an advocate for IPC and receive a fully paid scholarship for the completion of the Foundations of Infection Prevention and Control course facilitated by the Australasian College of Infection Prevention and Control. The role, along with SJWA’s IPC Specialist, provides one-to-one mentoring and support to improve patient and staff safety outcomes through IPC quality initiatives. The program has supported the development of three champions (all frontline paramedics), as well as one Clinical Quality Manager and one Clinical Program Coordinator to complete the FIPC course to assist with embedding best IPC practice into the Clinical Services department and across all education programs.