NATIONAL INFECTION CONTROL WEEK
Activities
Engaging staff members with activities can contribute to the success of your event. They provide an opportunity to promote your Mission Statement, connect with multidisciplinary staff members to enhance the educational components of an event, and involving a wide variety of people whose participation will promote increased learning.
If time and resources are scarce, limiting the event to a few activities will generate interest and enthusiasm for your cause without requiring intensive planning and preparation.
Suggestions for activities:
- Educational events - Your theme should determine the major focus of your presentation
- remember your target groups
- consider their knowledge base, functions and needs
- adult learners have a concentration span of 30 minutes (keep presentations short and have breaks between sessions)
- Poster contest –
- for staff, students, patients; residents
- display posters in prominent areas
- display winning entries in a main area or close to your IPAC boards
- have staff vote for best entry online (this can draw more staff to your website)
- publish winners’ names in your facility newsletter or newspaper;
- have an award ceremony on the winning unit
- Slogan contest - hold the contest before the event; circulate your Mission Statement with the announcement of the contest; the winning slogan could become the major theme of the event.
- "Trivial Pursuit" game - use important Infection Prevention and Control questions in a questionnaire or card game; game can be played individually or in groups; develop a score sheet and award small prizes
- Questionnaire/Q&A Cards - have questions relating to practices, policies and procedures completed by individuals who stop by your display, and award prizes to those who answer all the questions correctly. This is a good way to check the level of knowledge and pinpoint trouble areas. Or leave cards in coffee rooms and lounges. Sample Questions
- Colouring contest for Pediatrics centers - design and photocopy a picture for children to colour; display pictures and have them judged; award prizes to winner and participants
- Skits - consider a theatre interlude with groups of staff scripting and performing a short skit or singing an Infection Prevention and Control song. Submit short entries online
- Theme character - dress up as a humorous "bug" and visit the ward areas and departments (e.g. "Gertie Grunge", "Infector Inspector"). This is particularly good for Paediatric areas.
- Test your handwashing skills - have participants check how well they have washed their hands using "glow in the dark" powders and solutions, available from various companies. Staff can don gloves and then wash with coloured finger-paint, to see where they have missed.
- Handwashing cards - have staff carry handwashing cards to mark each time they wash their hands during a shift. Put cards in a box for a draw. This raises awareness of how many times hands should be washed in a day.
- Hands that Care - take photographs of the hands and faces of various prominent individuals in your facility, then paste them onto a poster. Have people try to match the hands with the faces, with a prize to the winner.
- Exhibitors - contact your local supply representatives. They might be interested in setting up display booths, and are great sources for giveaway items, buttons etc.
- Tours - arrange a tour of your department, laboratories, etc.; set up displays and demonstrations.
- Poems - put an Infection Prevention and Control poem in your facility newsletter or paper or hold a contest to create a poem
- Puzzles & Word Games - put an Infection Prevention and Control puzzle or word game in your facility newsletter or paper or provide puzzles to solve for a prize
- Nutrition breaks - refreshments are a drawing card and provide an opportunity for participants to meet and exchange information; consider scheduling them before, during or after educational presentations, during activities, or during a tour of your department
- Movie Fest - have 15-20 minute films related to infection prevention and control running all day or during breaks and mealtimes.
- Demonstrations - arrange demos on specific techniques such as isolation, gowning, masking and handwashing.
- Set up a mock isolation room – observe staff as they go in and perform a "procedure" on a ”pretend patient”, with a prize for the person with the fewest misses in technique.
