“You Use It, You Clean It”: A Multifaceted Approach to Educate and Engage Pediatric Healthcare Workers in Non-Critical Reprocessing

Abstract

BACKGROUND Reprocessing of noncritical devices between patients is essential to interrupt the transmission of infectious agents. A priority of The Joint Commission's (TJC), improper reprocessing has a >70% citation rate among surveyed hospitals. We created an educational program to incorporate infection prevention practices into routine patient care, to create and identify the location of patient care resources about cleaning and disseminate vital information needed for healthcare providers (HCP) to answer cleaning questions, in the event of a TJC visit. METHODS We gathered data from structured interviews with HCP on more than 20 inpatient units of varying medical specialties during a three month period (December 2017- February 2018). Data was reviewed by a group of six Certified Infection Preventionists and was utilized to develop resources informing HCP of the needed information, guided by principles of andragogy. RESULTS HCP confusion about ‘who’ cleans noncritical devices and ‘what’ product to clean with were prevalent. We created a “Top 10 Patient Care Items” list to assign responsibility and cleaning product. The list was laminated and used with dry erase markers to quiz and educate unit HCP during rounds. An episode of our monthly Infection Prevention video blog titled “You use it, you use clean it” was dedicated to this topic. We presented both tools to clinical leadership and unit educators, For easy access and reminders, we created a repository of all materials on our institutional intranet called ‘Cleaning Matters’. CONCLUSIONS Diversifying education methods, utilizing direct conversation, quizzing, video, and regular reminders allowed us to reach a wide provider audience in an engaging and nonobtrusive way. Allowing tools to be modified for use locally empowered units and HCP to own reprocessing at the point of care. We continue to engage and empower HCP in the importance of reprocessing and preventing transmission of infectious agents.