Mr David Potter1
1Idjivitari Pty Ltd, NAIRNE, Australia, 2Ardrossan Seview, Ardrossan, Australia
Biography:
Now in the 53rd year of my Nursing career I am perhaps far more reflective than I ever have been. Securing more for the same effort continues to be a driver from both a professional and personal perspective. This paper reflects this focus.
Abstract:
If we claim to be truly focussed on Aged Care resident outcomes from an infection prevention and control (IPC) perspective then we cannot address this by solely thinking of IPC best practice. Our experience has been underpinned by a whole of care & operations focus.
Residents, patients, clients – give them whatever nomenclature suits the service provider relationship – we have to acknowledge that these are salient beings – irrespective of cognitive capacity. They are vessels that opportunistic organisms will readily occupy in order for them to flourish leading to adverse outcomes.
So the question we asked ourselves at the small rural aged care facility I have been associated with was ‘” With our limited resources (by virtue of size) how can we further optimise our IPC focus”.
Our process revision included
• Assessment in terms of our capacity to meet care needs
• Including skin care products within our skin assessment – skin health being critical in minimising infection risk
• Optimising our wound management practices
• Increasing Head-to-Assessment frequency
This move to better practice has seen a significantly enhanced partnership develop between residents and staff with, let reduced incidence of skin related injuries and wound infections.
We also managed ‘change fatigue’ by building on what we already did, rather than introducing something new.
Our data speaks for itself through savings across so many operational spheres – then the potential for this to be replicated for better resident outcomes and improved bottom lines in every health care delivery setting.