35 Jamaican nurses trained in hospital acquired infection prevention and control

This standardized syllabus was customized to Jamaica and presented through a number of three-day training workshops.

Some 35 Infection control nurses from Jamaica’s hospitals and other health care workers were exposed to the training.

In total, over 87 participants attended the workshops which aim to:

• Assure that Infection control nurses understand how pathogens may be transmitted in the work environment: patient to healthcare worker, healthcare worker to patient, and patient to patient;

• Apply current scientifically accepted infection prevention and control principles as appropriate for the specific work environment;

• Minimize opportunity for transmission of pathogens to patients and healthcare workers; and

• Establish a surveillance system of HAI at the hospital level.

The lack of adequate training of professionals in the prevention and control of hospital acquired infection (HAI) can be a major obstacle to the implementation and proper functioning of HAI surveillance and detection and containment of HAI outbreaks. The Ministry of Health and Wellness with the support of PAHO is helping to bridge this gap. 

The strengthening of the in-country capacity now permits infection control nurses to better apply policies and guidelines for surveillance and prevention of healthcare-associated infections and the containment of antimicrobial resistance at varying levels of complexity.

From this support, it is expected that there will be an eventual decrease in the incidence of HAI in neonatology.