Announcements and resources

Welcome to the September 2021 Issue of Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Updates. 

PPE Stockpile ends October 25th - Order your no-cost PPE now!

All healthcare and long-term care facilities are encourage to order gloves, gowns, masks, respirators and other supplies from the PPE Stockpile as soon as possible. Access to this resource will end on October 25th. Each facility is eligible to order up to a 90 day supply. To access this resource, contact your local Emergency Management Agency. You can find contact information for your EMA here: https://www.dshs.wa.gov/altsa/residential-care-services/ppe-facilities. If you have questions or problems with ordering, DOH HAIAR can help. Contact us at HAI-FitTest@doh.wa.gov for assistance. If you are interested in obtaining fit testing for your facility, visit our webpage

DOH Guidance Updates:

• Interim Recommendations to Mitigate Health Care Worker Staffing Shortage During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF)
• Infection Control for Aerosol Generating Procedures (PDF)
• You can find all of our updated guidance on our guidance webpage

Project Firstline Podcast - New Episode Now Available

Learn about infection prevention and have some fun with the Project Firstline Podcast. Our newest episode on MDROs was recently released. You can find all of our episodes on the Project Firstline DOH Soundcloud

De-Escalation Training Available for Staff

Access this training resource to help staff manage difficult encounters with visitors, or other situations they may experience in their work. The DOH Behavioral Health Strike Team can provide de-escalation trainings for any organization – a great resource for hands-on training during these continued challenging times. Contact Terri Veazey (terri.veazey@doh.wa.gov) to schedule a training.

Resources to assist you with following the Governor's FAQs for Vaccine Mandate 8/09/2021:

Where to address questions about healthcare worker/long-term care worker vaccine mandate, exemptions and accommodations :

COVID Information hotline 1-800-525-0127 (language services available)

eyeonsafety@lni.wa.gov or 1-800-4BE-SAFE COVID.Vaccine@doh.wa.gov

Links:

• WA DOH Vaccine Mandate FAQ for Healthcare Providers, Workers and Settings
• Governor's Office: Religious Exemption Form Template (Microsoft Word version here)
• Governor's Office: Religious Guidance Template (Microsoft Word version here)
• Governor's Office: Disability-Related (Medical) Exemption Form Template (Microsoft Word version here)

Partner resources

CDC 

Earn continuing education credits with Project Firstline

Looking to earn continuing education (CE)? Project Firstline is excited to announce the launch of two new CE courses:

• Ventilation, Source Control, and Hand Hygiene – Learn how ventilation, hand hygiene, and source control keep germs from spreading in healthcare facilities. 
• How COVID-19 Spreads – Understand how COVID-19 spreads, why infection control actions for COVID-19 focus on keeping respiratory droplets out of the air and away from other people, and why infection control actions for COVID-19 work for new strains of the virus. 

Research

New CDC Article Available: "The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on healthcare-associated infections in 2020: A summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network"

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