DISTANCE EDUCATION AND CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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DISTANCE EDUCATION AND CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

• DISTANCE EDUCATION IN THE WORKPLACE
• MARION STEWART
• UHI Millennium Institute

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IDENTIFIED NEED FOR INFECTION CONTROL EDUCATION

• Scottish Infection Manual
• NBS/SCIEH report on infection control educational
  opportunities for health care professionals in
  Scotland

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EDUCATION/TRAINING NEEDED FOR NHS AND NON-NHS
STAFF

• All grades and all disciplines
• Porters, auxiliaries, laundry staff, domestic
  staff
• Students nurses, doctors, others
• Qualified staff
• Continuing post-registration education
• Infection control-link nurses
• Induction
• Post-graduate/specialist
• Non-NHS staff eg social services,schools,rescue
  services
• Existing provision inadequate

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SCOTTISH CENTRE FOR INFECTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH(SCIEH)

• Based in Glasgow
• Multidisciplinary organisation
• Scottish national resource of information and
  expertise
• Role in providing education for healthcare
  professionals, local authority personnel and
  others

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SCIEH IDENTIFIED THE NEED FOR DISTANCE LEARNING
OPPORTUNITIES

• OU approached but time estimate too long
• UHI approached
• to take project forward at greater speed
• to take advantage of new technologies and
  educational methods
• Grant was secured from the Scottish Executives
  Primary Care Development Fund1999/2000

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INTENTION

• To develop and deliver a package/course which
  will raise awareness of the problems associated
  with infection in hospitals and in the community,
  to enable people to deal with them safely
• To ensure that such a course consists of various
  modules suitable for the further education and
  training of all grades of health care workers,
  environmental health workers, public service
  workers, and their managers
•  To ensure that the modules which are developed
  are based on the most up-to-date scientific
  evidence related to the control of infection and
  environmental hazards in Scotland and include
  current legal requirements related to their
  management

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AIMS IDENTIFIED BY COURSE TEAM

• The range of courses has been designed to enhance
  the ability of participants to deal safely,
  effectively, and economically with the infection
  related problems that they may encounter in their
  professional practice 
• All courses are work based, so that the student
  learns the principles and applies them in the
  workplace. Local policies are used throughout,
  and the tutors are specialists and active in
  their field.

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PROPOSED EDUCATION PACKAGE

• MSc Infection Control
• Undergraduate levels 1and 3
• Basic Introduction

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MSc Infection Control (MSc IC)

•   
• Infection Control Specialists and others who need
  specialist knowledge of all aspects of infection
  control
• 8 modules and a dissertation
•  Core and option modules
•  Module leaders have been selected because of
  their expertise in the subject area
•  On line with e-mail, discussions and tutorials
•  Multidisciplinary encourages effective liaison
  between professional groups

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RECENT REPORTS AND INITIATIVES

• The Carey Report Managing the Risk of
  Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) 2001
• Clinical Standards Board for Scotland Standards
  Infection Control 2001
• The Watt Group Report 2002
• Scottish Executives Action Plan to reduce the
  risk to patients, staff and visitors from HAI
  2002-2005 Proposal to have infection control
  champions (specific ward based staff with a
  special interest in HAI and hygiene)

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WHAT NEXT?

• Continuation of the MSc Infection Control
• Piloting the two undergraduate modules
• Tailoring the undergraduate modules for other
  groups
• Development of the Basic package

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DISTANCE EDUCATION AND CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

• DISTANCE EDUCATION IN THE WORKPLACE
• FIONA SKINNER
• UHI Millennium Institute

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UHI Millennium InstitutePrinciples relevant to
the MSc IC

• Widen access to high quality tertiary education
• Increase participation rates through new
  approaches to learning and teaching making the
  most of the new information and communication
  technologies

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UNDERPINNING PHILOSOPHY OF THE MSc INFECTION
CONTROL

• The approaches correspond to those which
  participants will be encouraged to utilise in
  their own professional practice
• The approaches will enable participants to take
  responsibility for their learning and to develop
  the skills and analytic frameworks that
  facilitate their CPD
• The learning process should provide opportunities
  for experiential learning and for comparing
  professional practice in different contexts
• It will allow further, continuing and higher
  education to be studied and thus promotes a
  culture of life-long learning.

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TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

• Should relate to those which the participants
  will be encouraged to use in their own
  professional practice
• Professional development within infection control
  has obvious implications for practice
• The learning environment enables participants to
• Reflect on their own practice
• Critically analyse and challenge assumptions
  underlying their professional practice
• Contextualise their understanding
• Majority of course team members are actively
  undertaking research and are all keeping up to
  date with infection control as part of their CPD
• The MSc IC will be delivered through distance
  learning strategies online.

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ONLINE

• WebCT
• Learning material online
• Communications how?
• Discussion board
• Email
• Chatrooms
• Communications with whom?
• Other students
• Tutors
• Mentor
• Course Leader

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PROCESS TO VALIDATION

• Core team
• Framework
• Market research
• Head hunt module leaders
• Create team
• Staff development
• Teaching and learning
• Online
• First 2 modules ready online

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FIRST YEAR OF DELIVERY ISSUES

• INDUCTION
• SEMESTER 1
• SEMESTER 2

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SECOND YEAR OF DELIVERYISSUES

• Wider audience
• Increase number of tutors
• Maintain staff development
• Change role of mentors
• CDROMs
• Week zero
• Other

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WAY FORWARD

• Course Planning Team
• Revalidation
• Approval/accreditation by relevant bodies
• Develop new modules for options
• In-house expert
• Increase numbers, widen market
• Continually strive for a quality product and
  experience for all those involved