On October 2, GNYHA and its partners 199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, and the 1199SEIU Training and Employment Funds (TEF) launched the second round of the Infection Prevention Coach (IPC) Training Program—an initiative to assist hospitals in improving infection prevention practices related to hand hygiene, health care worker immunizations, and environmental cleanliness. Nearly 400 health care workers from 30 hospitals participated in the initial round of training, and GNYHA expects approximately 200 hospital employees from 15 member hospitals to participate in the training sessions that will take place over the next month.  
     
The IPC training program promotes a culture where all health care workers, frontline staff in particular, understand their valuable role in eliminating infections. IP coaches are encouraged to lead, support, mentor, and inform other staff about how each member of the health care team can enforce basic infection prevention practices to improve clinical outcomes. The IPC Program has been designed to allow for hospital forums, special projects, and follow-up training and education for coaches and other hospital staff. 
     
Significantly, the IPC program creates critical infrastructure by way of the coaches to support many other infection prevention interventions offered by GNYHA and the United Hospital Fund (UHF) partnership, including Collaboratives focusing on central line-associated bloodstream infections, Clostridium difficile (C. diff.), and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcal aureus (MRSA) (see story at right). For additional information on the IPC training or on the GNYHA/UHF infection prevention Collaboratives, contact Terri Straub at GNYHA.