Loddon Mallee Rural Infection Control Centre

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Overview

The Loddon Mallee Region (LMR) has established an Infection Control Resource Centre, which is auspiced by the Bendigo Health Care Group and staffed with two Infection Control Nurse Consultants, Jane Hellsten and Pauline Woodburn.

An advisory committee has been formed representing the Loddon Mallee Region. The aims of the Infection Control Resource Centre are:

• To promote leadership, education, training and peer support in Infection Control practices by harnessing and further developing infection control knowledge in the region.
• To establish mechanisms to gather, analyse and disseminate information to allow regional health care facilities to implement appropriate Infection Control strategies. This will enable the Infection Control Resource Centre to meet the priority outcome areas for the region as set out in the three year Infection Control Regional Strategic Plan. To date the ICRC staff have been busy conducting site visits to facilities providing auditing, education and peer support.

The Infection Control Resource Centre conducted an Infection Control Rural Forum earlier this year. The forum attracted over 90 participants from across rural Victoria and was hailed as a great success.

Future outcomes will be the development of a generic Infection Control policy, provision of auditing and educational tools and library access from the Bendigo Health Care Group regional library. This will enable Infection Control Practitioners to have literature searches conducted and journal abstracts provided on-line. A direct link to the resource centre for Infection Control Practitioners is provided via telephone, email and the quarterly issue of this newsletter.

Another valuable resource to the Loddon Mallee Region is the appointment of Professor Lindsay Grayson, an Infectious Diseases Physician. Professor Grayson is from the Austin Repatriation Medical Centre and will visit the Bendigo Health Care Group monthly (15 visits per year). He is available to the region via phone or email. He will assist with development of antibiotic guidelines and provide educational opportunities. Contact details have been forwarded to the region.

The Loddon Mallee Region Infection Control Resource Centre (LMRICRC) is well underway with the establishment of infrastructure that allows all public hospitals within the region to achieve the Governments strategy for infection control in Victoria.

The five priority outcome areas identified by DHS Victoria are:

• Management, commitment, leadership and accountability.
• Monitoring IC and reducing infection rates
• Prevention of adverse events
• Protecting health care workers and visitors and
• Surveillance

Contact information

Contact information for further queries.

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