Pee Dee AHEC: Infection Prevention for Long Term Care Facilities

Long Term Care Facilities may be defined as institutions that provide healthcare to people who are unable to manage independently in the community. More than 1.5 million residents reside in United States’ nursing homes. In recent years, the acuity of illness of nursing home residents has increased. It is not surprising that almost as many healthcare acquired infections occur in Long Term Care Facilities as in hospitals in the United States.
Dr. Philip W. Smith, Section of Infectious Diseases, University of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska American Journal of Infection Control, July 2008

On October 28, Pee Dee AHEC will host a three-hour course that addresses infection prevention in long term care settings in Florence, SC. This standardized program was developed through funding provided by a partnership with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare and the North Carolina Division of Health Services.

Vicky R. Zelenka, RN, CIC, LNC, board certified infection preventionist and legal nurse consultant will provide instruction. She has 42 years of infection prevention experience, 37 of which she served in the acute care setting. She is a quality auditor for APIC (Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology) Consulting Services in Washington, DC as well as a contributing author in infectious disease texts.

For further program information, visit the website: peedeeahec.net

Comments

Lowcountry AHEC Helps School Nurse Orientation Pivot Online during Pandemic

For many years, orientation for school nurses in South Carolina has been an in-person event; however, due to COVID-19, this orientation, like so many other in-person events, was cancelled this past year. Yet the need to orient South Carolina's school nurses remains critical. Recognizing this need, a team consisting of Lowcountry AHEC staff, South Carolina Association of School Nurse President Dawn MacAdams and South Carolina Department of Education State School Nurse Consultant Vicky Ladd developed a plan to deliver the orientation as an online, self-paced course. The instructors supported the format change, working to convert their in-person sessions to online content, and Lowcountry AHEC will provide nursing credit for the series over the next two years. The orientation went live in the fall of 2020 and is available at no cost to South Carolina school nurses on the new and improved South Carolina AHEC Learning Portal. To find out more and register, visit the Foundations of School

SC AHEC Excellence Awards: Gateway Award

The South Carolina AHEC Gateway Award recognizes individuals who are committed to furthering the development of future health professionals and are distinguished in their service to students in the health careers pipeline. This year’s Gateway Award recipient is Angelica Ellman Christie, Ed.D. Dr. Christie is currently the vice president of academic affairs at Denmark Technical College. Previously, she served in the South Carolina AHEC system for numerous years: She started her career in 1998 as the Health Careers Program (HCP) coordinator for Greenville AHEC and advanced as the HCP director in the South Carolina AHEC program office in 2000. In the fall of 2018, Dr. Christie left South Carolina AHEC for her position at Denmark Tech. Throughout her career, Dr. Christie exhibited her passionate dedication to advancing the mission of South Carolina AHEC. She enthusiastically went above and beyond to research, develop, and successfully undertake new projects and programming to streng

Lowcountry AHEC’s Strong Partnerships Serve School Nurses Statewide

For over three decades, Lowcountry AHEC has been proud to support school nurses across South Carolina in their professional development through statewide conferences and meetings. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in-person events came to a halt, Lowcountry AHEC along with their partners, were able to pivot to alternate methods to continue providing training opportunities for school nurses. One such way Lowcountry AHEC was able to adapt was implementing online modules so that school nurses could continue to receive the same professional development and learning opportunities in a virtual setting. The first course, Foundations of School Nursing , included nine modules and was uploaded to the South Carolina AHEC Learning Portal (ALP) by August 2020 . With over 1,600 registrations to this day, Foundations of School Nursing is the most popular course currently on ALP. “We began to do some work with them on online modules,” said Lowcountry AHEC Center Director Diane Mathews. “All new schoo

South Carolina AHEC News & Updates

Search This Blog