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Background:

 

One of the mandates of the Infection Control Society is to encourage the formation of local IPC chapters. Although there are some such chapters already working in the country, there are many regions where there does not seem to be any functioning IPC chapter.

 

The following document is meant to provide some suggestions and advice for any IPC practitioners who are interested in forming chapters in their regions. Needs will obviously vary from region to region, and solutions will also vary. Adaptability is key (something IPC practitioners are generally very good at!). Please feed back to us to let us know if these suggestions are useful, and if there is any other advice that you may wish to give others.

 

To start with a quote from Mother Theresa and repeated in the Best Care…Always! Campaign:

 

Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world.

For, indeed, that's all who ever have.

 

If you are reading this with a view to creating a new chapter, then you are to be commended. It seems a daunting task at first, but once the chapter is established, you will find it will not occupy too much of your time and energy but will benefit the practice of Infection Prevention in your area tremendously. Most IP practitioners are nurses, but remember to invite doctors and microbiologists to join you in this endeavour.

 

Forming the Committee

 

Initially you need to get a committee together to support you in this venture – trying to go it alone is likely to be frustrating and short lived.

 

You might present the idea of a local IP Society at any meetings you attend which other IP practitioners (nurses or doctors) or hospital management also attend. Identify a few volunteers to help you on the committee.

 

Otherwise you may need to approach individuals directly and ask if they would like to be involved. We would suggest getting both private and state sector IP nurses involved, and if there is a microbiologist available, you could approach him/her as well. It's important to make sure that whatever local society you start is seen to encompass anyone who is involved and interested, not just those in the state sector or just those in the private sector. It would also be a good idea if you invite people from the different hospital groups to be part of your executive committee, so that you can have a broader base to invite attendees.

 

Your executive committee will need to have at least the following members:

 

• A Chairperson – yourself initially.
• A person to organise and liaise with speakers
• A person to liaise with companies who support IP. The companies are very willing to help by paying a fee for a table / stand at which they can display their products.

 

This person also collects these fees and keeps records of bookings for each workshop.

 

Contact all the company representatives you see in the course of your days at work and put together a list of interested companies in your area.

 

• A person to act as treasurer for the forum.
• A secretary that will do all the administration, communication, booking of venue, registration, banking, etc

 

Once the committee has been constituted, you should decide on a name for your chapter, and you should draw up a constitution for the chapter. It may sound unnecessary before you've even had a meeting, but it makes you think about what you want to do and how you are going to go about it, and allows others to see what your plans are.

 

The first draft of the constitution can be brief, but should ideally cover:

 

• purpose or objectives of the society
• membership (ie who can join)
• committee (how many, terms of office)
• financial arrangements if relevant
• annual general meetings (how often)

 

 

Administration and Finances

 

When you are just starting, you may want to avoid charging fees and opening a bank account. If you can get outside sponsorship for your initial meetings (ie for refreshments), then you probably don't need a bank account to start. You may have expenses in terms of postage, stationery, telephone, fax and e-mail communication, so bear those in mind when you speak to sponsors)

 

However, once you start charging membership fees, you should open a bank account where all monies need to be deposited. You will also probably need a cash box, receipt books and attendance registers. (You may start off with receipt books that can be bought at your local stationer and have a stamp made; and attendance registers can be made on an Excel spreadsheet and printed for each study day. Attendance registers should have a space for e-mail addresses as this is the easiest and cheapest form of communication)

 

Arranging workshops:

• Venues: Try to hold workshops at various hospitals in the area – which can save you money! Remember that you need space for a lecture area, a display area for the companies, as well as an area for tea. You may need to arrange for the use of audio-visual equipment for the workshop – many hospital venues may be able to provide this.
• Frequency: Aim for organising a workshop every 3 months or so.
• Topics: The topics may vary - try to get the society members to let the committee know what they want to learn about or discuss, or the committee may organise a workshop around a theme (eg hand hygiene, or sterilisation, or nosocomial infections, current campaigns, outbreaks /epidemics, etc).

Advertise your first workshop as widely as possible, and make a big show of the start-up of the new Infection Prevention Chapter / Society. You will find that once you have organized the first workshop, the Society will take on a life of its own, but it will need a motivated chairperson to keep it running actively.

 

Once you have established your Society, please let us know about it!

 

Good luck!

 

Honours degree in IPC 2011:

The department of Infection Prevention and Control at the University of KwaZulu Natal will be offering a BSc (Hons) course in Infection Prevention and Control in 2011. For more information click here

WHO patient safety newsletter:

The latest edition of the World Health Organisation Patient Safety Newsletter is now available. click here