Miss Elizabeth Peters1, Miss Emily Chapple
1Epworth Healthcare, Melbourne, Australia
Biography:
Elizabeth Peters is a Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), with extensive clinical experience in critical care nursing. Elizabeth is the lead CNC at Epworth Eastern where she is passionate about revolutionising infection prevention practices and driving meaningful, modern, evidence-based change.
Abstract:
Background
Transmission-based precautions signage plays a vital role in guiding safe infection prevention and control practices. Despite being a critical visual tool used by staff and consumers of the hospital, audits highlighted uncertainty among staff around appropriate signage, leading to poor compliance and confusion in personal protective equipment (PPE). These audits also evidenced a misalignment between the advice in the signs and that in current protocols. Recognising the need for clarity and consistency, a quality improvement project was launched. Its concept was to redesign existing signage, using a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach.
Method of Actions
Led by the infection prevention and control team, new transmission-based precautions signs were developed. A multidisciplinary team consisting of nursing, hospitality environmental services, medical and consumer representatives ensured that key information was easily understandable within the poster, by all stakeholders. The design included the use of visuals, and a QR code to improve access to the current protocols. This provided assurance that the poster was functional and user friendly.
Results
The redesigned signs increased stakeholder confidence in their utility, tailored to each role. Feedback highlighted the signs useability and effectiveness of understanding appropriate PPE and isolation requirements. This reduced ambiguity and fostered a greater sense of ownership over infection prevention and control practices.
Conclusion
This project demonstrates that inclusivity and co-design leads to the meaningful development of usable resources. By putting end users at the centre of the design process, we fostered ownership, collaborative engagement delivering a quality improvement project that directly supports safer patient care.