INFECTION CONTROL

Prevention and Management of Community Acquired Infection (Clostridium difficile)

By learning to identify the infection and adopting best practice both preventing and managing
this potentially dangerous infection in health and community care settings. How this course can help you: Reported deaths involving Clostridium difficile rise by 28 per cent (Health Statistics Quarterly, Autumn 2008). The number of death certificates that mentioned C. difficile infection rose from 6,480 in 2006 to 8,324 in 2007, an increase of 28 per cent. The number of reported deaths involving C. difficile has more than doubled since 2005 when there were 3,757 mentions on death certificates. This interactive e-learning course is designed to enable personnel from a range of healthcare organisations to understand Clostridium difficile (C.diff) thus enhancing the management and care of patients and service users with Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea. It has been created in partnership with Specialist Infection Control Teams.

Course Content:

scenario-based, multi-agency, with pre- and post-course assessment (A Certificate will be awarded for completion of the compulsory Modules 1 & 2 + one other listed *Module):

Mod.1 Introduction - Context & Terminology;

Mod.2 Infection prevention precautions

Mod.3 *G.P.s;

Mod.4 *Nurses;

Mod. 5 *Non-Medical Prescribers;

Mod. 6 *Carers in the Community.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course participants will be able to:

Understand what is meant by Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea

Recognise and understand the predisposing factors and the relevance of antibiotic prescribing

Understand the diagnostic criteria and benefits of early diagnosis

Be aware of and explain current treatments

Be aware of and understand the importance of appropriate Infection prevention and control

Precautions and the impact these measures have on the prevention of cross infection

Understand the role and responsibilities of self and others
Know where to find support and advice

Benefits of the course:

This course will benefit organisations and their partner agencies by providing essential information to develop a comprehensive understanding of Clostridium difficile, and their own roles and responsibilities in the prevention and treatment of this disease. The e-learning approach provides an invaluable tool for blended learning strategies and is especially suitable for service groups who have difficulties in releasing staff to attend training sessions or where local capacity to deliver sessions is not sufficient. E-learning offers users the chance to work at their own pace, with a Certificate on conclusion of the course including assessments.

Mini Biography:

The subject matter experts are: Deborah King and Kathleen Hughes, Infection Prevention Specialists of Solihull Care Trust and Heart of Birmingham PCT respectively. Together they have a combined experience (30 years) of working in infection prevention across both acute and primary care organisations. Both subject matter experts have a keen interest in infection prevention education in particular with regards to changing practice.