With the help of a $50,000 grant, UT Medical Center staff members will add to their expertise on infection prevention and control.
The Heroes Research Award was given to the UTMC Infection Prevention and Control Department to help fund an educational series titled “I Can Prevent.” This lunchtime lecture series will provide UTMC employees with information on topics such as isolation precautions, hand hygiene, insertion techniques and care.
There will be two lecture series per year, beginning late this spring, designed to add to the existing infection prevention knowledge of each employee. The grant money will go toward lunches, materials, incentives as well as experts speaking on topics.
“There are very few of us whose job it is to handle infection prevention, but it is every health-care worker’s responsibility,” said Kristen Woodman, infection control coordinator at UTMC. “With this lecture series, we hope to equip UTMC personnel with advanced infection prevention knowledge.”
The grant is an extension of the Heroes of Infection Prevention Award given by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology Inc. UTMC was one of two winners, the other being the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston.
These two departments were chosen based on their plans to implement science and education to advance infection prevention in their respective hospitals.
“This grant is possible because of the department’s passion for patient safety,” Woodman said. “It was definitely a team effort.”
