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Union course targets germ-stopping strategies
December 9, 2004 Nurses Michelle Parker and Donna Miele develop the infection control course. The union wants to spread information, not germs. Health care professionals will be able to update their knowledge with a course to be offered next year through the New York State United Teachers Education and Learning Trust. The course — NYSUT's first in health care — will meet state requirements for the mandatory infection control course nurses and health care professionals take every four years, and for those applying for their first licenses. NYSUT is applying to the State Education Department to be a participating provider of these courses. "Diseases are changing — the most important thing in infection control is to protect yourself," said Michelle Parker, a school nurse and president of the 104-member Greenburgh Civil Service Organization in Westchester County . Parker, a member of NYSUT's Health Care Professionals Council, has been helping to create the course. "If you're running out to the field because you've been told someone got hurt, you've still got to grab your bag with your barrier precautions inside," she said. "It's important to put on gloves, wash hands and use barrier precautions like masks and gowns" for spills, blood and vomit. The message is intended for nurses, and for other school staffers such as custodians who clean up after sick children, as well. It is the school nurses who can remind and educate them, Parker said. Friction The NYSUT course reinforces proper hand washing: "It's the friction that kills the germs, and the time — not just the hot water," Parker said. The union's course will be available in hospitals, schools and NYSUT regional offices. It will be more interactive than existing courses, Parker promised. "The school district or the local union can schedule classes with the Education and Learning Trust," she said. "It helps us to know that NYSUT's there for us," Parker said. "This is an opportunity we'd probably never have to improve our profession. I hope this course is one of many for health care." NYSUT is piloting the course in January for Greenburgh nurses. Next June, the union will bring together nurses to train as workshop presenters. The course focuses on breaking the chain of infection, an issue of particular relevance this flu season, said Maria Neira, NYSUT second vice president. Ann O'Hara, a school nurse who is a member of the Syracuse Teachers Association, and Greenburgh nurse Donna Miele helped Parker and other professionals develop the course. For information about professional courses through NYSUT's Education and Learning Trust, call (800) 528-6208 or look under Resources in www.nysut.org. — Liza Frenette |
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