Joel Collins1
1CALHN, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Background
Practical personal protective equipment (PPE) training for healthcare workers (HCW) is a labour-intensive task. Typically, training a HCW will entail a trained trainer directly observing the HCW donning and doffing, providing real-time feedback on any observed errors. Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) Infection Prevention and Control Unit (IPCU) is testing a product which may help address this – Blue Mirror. Blue Mirror is an artificial intelligence (AI) software that can observe PPE donning and doffing and provide real-time feedback to the individual on the observed errors. An evaluation of training effectiveness was conducted in March 2023.
Method
Participants were delivered a 10-minute group a presentation which covered fundamental concepts related to the use of PPE such as:
- Infectious disease transmission
- Function and limitations of PPE
- PPE integration into the healthcare setting (transmission-based precautions signage).
- Hand Hygiene
The group was then split into 2 even groups to undertake PPE donning and doffing by their allocated training stream – traditional (control) or Blue Mirror (test).
Following this training a sample from each group were assessed by an auditor who was blinded to their training method.
Results
The control group and test group have a similar success and error rate after training, regardless of the method of training.
Conclusion
Blue Mirror offers an opportunity to decrease the number of trained trainers required to efficiently train a large group of HCW and can increase access to training opportunities for shift workers.
Biography
Joel is a Nurse Consultant in the Infection Prevention and Control Unit at CALHN. He has a background in emergency nursing, rural and remote nursing and has followed a passion for infection prevention and education in more recent years.