Inobena Tosiri, assistant nurse-in-charge of the oncology
ward at Bugando Medical Centre in Tanzania, has learned a great deal about preventing
the spread of infection and disease and has shared this lifesaving knowledge
with coworkers.
Nurse Tosiri is one of 40 employees who completed the peer
trainer program as part of the Health
Worker Safety Initiative funded by AmeriCares with support from corporate
partners. Since its inception in 2008, the initiative has become a model
program in best practices, training 1,128 health care workers on how to protect
themselves and others from infection and injury while they care for the more
than 240,000 patients a year at this 900-bed referral and teaching hospital.
As Nurse Tosiri’s knowledge of safe practices grew, so did
her commitment to making Bugando Medical Centre a safer place for both patients
and staff. Since 2009, she has led health worker safety trainings on hand
washing, waste disposal, and environmental decontamination.
Clean Hands Save Lives
Nurse Tosiri learned
that hand hygiene is the single most essential measure for reducing health care
associated infection and cross-contamination – and that increased
compliance is especially crucial. “Before, workers would wash their hands only once,
and thought that was enough,” she explained. “Now, we wash hands before
procedures and after taking off our gloves, and we use antiseptics.”
Waste segregation practices
have also changed, “Medical waste is now disposed of correctly—before we were
mixing all types of waste, but now that awareness has been raised we have
procedures for properly segregating medical waste,” she said.
A total of 998 health workers, including Nurse Tosiri, have also
benefited from the hepatitis B vaccines provided by the program, especially
important in Tanzania, where 70 percent of all adults have been infected with
the disease. “Now I feel secure that I will be protected from this dangerous
virus,” Tosiri said. This knowledge gives her more confidence in her own safety
as she cares for patients in the oncology ward each day.
Safeguarding against
infection is particularly important for workers in developing countries, where
staff can be exposed to an average of four needle sticks per year. To keep
track of injuries and treatment, AmeriCares supported the updating of
the medical centre’s post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) reporting forms. In
addition, PEP starter kits are now available at the nursing stations in each
ward, and workers are familiar with proper PEP procedure, which can save lives
after an injury or needle stick.
Nurse Tosiri also credits the Health
Worker Safety Initiative with providing coworkers with products that protect
them from infection as they care for patients, such as gloves and
safety-engineered syringes donated by AmeriCares corporate partners.
Hospital conditions have also improved.
“When the trainings began, the hospital had many dangerous areas with open
sockets, hanging wires and other hazards,” she said. “Now workers are more
conscious of those dangers and feel empowered to report them to the hospital
management.”
Since 2008, AmeriCares has
shipped more than $1 million in safety-engineered devices, personal protective
equipment and medicines, and has provided $400,000 in financial and project
management support to the medical centre in support of the Health Worker Safety
Initiative.
