IPC Partners

Did you know that IPC (infection prevention and control) partners are on site at all the facilities of our CIUSSS to help reinforce best practices? They take a collaborative and preventive approach, they teach, raise awareness, and solve problems. But what exactly do the IPC partners do? To find out, we went to meet some of them. Here are two of their stories.

Ayman Saadallah, IPC Partner at the CHSLD de Dorval and CHSLD Denis-Benjamin-Viger
“When I do hand hygiene and personal protective equipment (PPE) audits, I pick times when I can reach the largest number of staff members, to help them effectively apply IPC rules. I pay particular attention to the availability of supplies, such as bottles of disinfectant and masks, and I make sure that there are enough on hand for each shift. 

I also look at the working environment. For example, I make sure that all of the clean laundry trolleys aren’t parked next to the garbage cans. I also make sure that employees don’t leave their personal effects in the wrong place, such as in the laundry or on the trolleys with the residents’ clean laundry. I also make sure that IPC posters are up to date and appropriate to each context, depending on the type of isolation and the precautions that need to be taken. And lastly, I regularly meet with the IPC advisor to discuss elements that could be improved in order to reduce the risks to both healthcare personnel and residents.”

Karla Cardenas Betancourt, IPC Partner at St. Mary’s Hospital Center
“To prevent the spread of nosocomial infections, I do PPE audits. Every morning, I make a list of the sectors I am going to visit and audit, particularly rooms where users with nosocomial infections are located.

The main issues I find have to do with inadequate use of masks and PPE, and poor hand hygiene practices. Visitors make more mistakes than the staff, since they’ve never had the necessary training, and I am happy to teach them whenever it is needed.”