National Nursing Week

4 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020 cna-aiic.ca Your leadership makes a difference every day. Share your story @ canadanurses #VoiceToLead #IND2019 & #NationalNursingWeek NATIONAL NURSING WEEK MAY 6-12, 2019 NATIONAL NURSING WEEK cna-aiic.ca MAY 11-17, 2020 P R O U D T O P R O T E C T A N D S E R V E T H E P U B L I C I N T E R E S T , T O G E T H E R W I T H R N s . crnm.mb.ca A S A C O L L E G E W E : Regulate registered nursing practice in Manitoba Support RNs to provide safe, competent and ethical care Set standards for education, registration and practice Take action when the standards are not met 10 Graduate Nurses 261 Nurse Practitioners 13,346 RNs AT T H E E N D O F 2 0 1 9 W E H A D : MB Primary Care Nurses, Care to Make a Difference OUR TEAM IS EXPANDING: ARE YOU A PRIMARY CARE NURSE? Come join our team to empower our professional community through education, networking and advocacy events! Visit us at www.mpcna.ca or https://www.facebook.com/MPCNA Our goal: empower you to be your healthiest, avoid illness and injury, and avoid needing the hospital. We serve you in primary health care settings, family practice and community health clinics all over Manitoba! • Give information and connect you with community resources • Help manage or resolve acute & chronic health problems • Promote health and well-being • Collaborate with various practitioners and specialists to customize care • Support healthy pregnancies, early childhood development, and provide immunizations • Care for sexually transmitted infections, reproductive and sexual health; operate Teen Clinics and more! Here are some ways we support your health care: We serve Manitobans of all ages! Primary care nursing: Want to learn more? Need a Foot Care Nurse? Find a Foot Care Nurse in your community at www.mafcn.ca Manitoba Association of Foot Care Nurses ' I was around when we were worried about hepatitis B and hepatitis C, then HIV," she says. "I was around for SARS, H1N1 influenza, the Ebola scare, and now it's COVID-19." Through them all, the goal was constant. "Our goal in Infection Prevention and Control is to try to prevent the transmission of organisms that have the potential to cause infections and disease in patients, staff and visitors when they are in the health-care environment," Robson says. THE ROUTES TAKEN TO MEET THAT GOAL ARE VARIED, AND INCLUDE (BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO): • education of staff, patients and the public • health care associated infection surveillance • development and review of operational directives, education packages, and standard operating procedures • outbreak management • facility design, renovation and construction where appropriate • product and equipment review and evaluation • Medical Device Reprocessing • auditing and reporting In addition to the infectious organisms themselves, the IP&C team is tasked with helping develop a germ-fighting ethos that helps prevent infection not only during a full-blown pandemic, but long after such a crisis passes. That means being able to "sell" the importance of preventative measures even when there are no outbreaks to keep them top-of-mind. "Prevention is somewhat of a hard sell because you are talking about things that haven't happened yet," Robson says. "Once an outbreak occurs, then people will get onboard more quickly or easily. We've seen this with the current pandemic; precautionary messages didn't resonate as much as they should have until it became quite obvious that this was something that could affect everybody and that it was more pervasive than people may have initially thought." That phenomenon is more instinctual than it is deliberate, Robson adds. "I think it's human nature to let those things go to the back of your mind," she says. "At IP&C, we've realized that we need to be out there, constantly promoting the message and connecting directly with the people we are trying to have an impact on, reminding them that they need to incorporate the things we're talking about into all of their behaviours." In the midst of the current pandemic, infection prevention and control messaging that was once a hard sell has now found an audience that is all ears. "You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who is not aware of the COVID-19 pandemic," Robson says. "Everybody wants a bottle of hand sanitizer on their desk, and the response from health-care staff and the public has been impressive. Everyone seems to be trying to find out as much as they can. They want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, and that's terrific." Robson encourages the public to maintain that level of vigilance and commitment to preventing the spread of infection, even after the pandemic ends. "We need all hands on deck," Robson says. "It really is the whole community — health-care staff and the general public alike — that will make us successful. You have to have everyone onboard. If we can maintain our commitment to social distancing, hand hygiene and other preventative measures we will continue to see the infection curve plateau and eventually descend." ✚ Mike Daly is a communications specialist with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. BY MIKE DALY This isn't Diane Robson's first rodeo. With more than 35 years of experience as an Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) Professional at St. Boniface Hospital, Robson is also a registered nurse. She has a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, and a Master of Education, and she has worked her way through several infection control efforts and pandemics. ALL (CLEAN) HANDS ON DECK PREVENTION IS HALF THE BATTLE IN FIGHTING INFECTION IN THE MIDST OF THE CURRENT PANDEMIC, INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL MESSAGING THAT WAS ONCE A HARD SELL HAS NOW FOUND AN AUDIENCE THAT IS ALL EARS. DIANE ROBSON, INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL (IP&C) PROFESSIONAL AT ST. BONIFACE HOSPITAL, PHOTO BY NATASHA WOLOSCHUK Nursing the World to Health

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