What We Do
Infection Prevention Consultation Services at FNHA aims to support First Nations communities with their work in preventing the spread of communicable diseases. We offer consultation and advice on practices in health care settings. Some of the areas we provide consultation include:
- client care practices
- medical device reprocessing
- environmental cleaning and disinfection
- staff and client safety
- facility design and renovations
- product selection
- public health
- accreditation preparation
- addressing communicable disease emergencies
We recognize that community health nurses and health directors, and their teams, are on the front lines of work in IPC. We are here to support and partner in that work.
We provide wholistic consultation tailored to each healthcare environment and needs, to enable the development of sustainable strategies that work for each community and care setting.
Resources
- Communicable Disease Control Manual: Infection Control – BCCDC (BC Centre for Disease Control)
- Germ Warriors: Do you have the right tools? is a video (YouTube, 47.03 mins) and accompanying presentation slides that supplement the training that environmental services technicians have received for their occupation and from their employer. The materials include a discussion of environmental services in cleaning and disinfection specifically for health care settings
- Respiratory Virus Season: Making Healthy Decisions (Infographic)
- Guidelines and Toolkits – PICNet (Provincial Infection Control Network of BC)
- Practice Resources – CDSBC (College of Dental Surgeons of BC)
Program Goals
The Infection Prevention Consultation Services Program of FNHA began on July 22, 2019. The start of this program was not only a significant initiative by FNHA but also timely in supporting FNHA and communities with their work in achieving infection prevention and control best practices, which range from clinical care practices to infrastructure and design.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a communicable disease emergency event that has reminded our country of the importance of having and enacting effective and robust Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) best practices.
Although IPC best practice measures and concepts continue to guide the decisions, procedures and policies of every sector and discipline during this pandemic, the continuous goal of IPC is ultimately to prevent such events from occurring in the first place, through partnerships and collaborations, and by providing informed consultations.
The IPC program endeavors to partner with communities to achieve zero preventable infections for all and forever.