Miss Terri Cripps1, Mrs Xioli Narvaez Correa1, Dr Susan Jain1,2, Ms Kathy Dempsey1
1Clinical Excellence Commission, St Leonards, Australia
2University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia
Background: Increases in health worker (HW) exposures and furloughs occurring concurrently with surges in Covid-19 cases identified a need for a review process of HW transmission. The analysis considered impact, local and systemic risks, including personal protective equipment (PPE) breaches and shared spaces.
Project aim: To develop mitigation strategies informed by HW transmission and exposure data to reduce risk to HWs during COVID-19 pandemic.
Method: Daily HW exposure data, reviews and discussions with an Expert Panel were used to identify key themes. Case studies were used to illustrate exposure event situations. The target audience was all HWs, with specific messages for managers.
Recommendations developed were consistent with guidance provided in the CEC COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Manual and related guidance.
Results: Fifteen ‘Keeping safe in the workplace during COVID-19’ information sheets were developed, published and shared within NSW.
“Hits” on CEC website were recorded for each of the resources to ascertain which of these were most used. Most frequent downloads were for fact sheets on community settings and shared spaces, followed by tearoom and extended use of PPE.
Conclusion: A series of written information sheets summarizing key risks and recommendations were used to promote improved IPAC practices in NSW following an increase in HW exposures. Plans are in place to obtain qualitative feedback from key stakeholders as part of the evaluation of this project.
Biography: Terri has been involved in Infection Prevention and Control in hospitals in NSW since 2004. Her field of expertise is Paediatrics where she has spent most of her career. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Terri stepped outside of the hospital to assist the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) with the NSW Quarantine program and discovered that her love of helping people could extend outside of the healthcare arena. Terri has also been involved with the CEC’s Healthcare worker (HW) program and contributed to the development of some useful resources for HW’s which were used to promote improved IPAC procedures.