Innovative Health Care Worker Training: Infectious Disease Risks
PI: Trish M. Perl, MD, MSc
Sponsor: Columbia University

This study is a multi-center pre-post intervention study composed by our colleagues at Columbia University in New York. The protocol involves the development, implementation and evaluation of the efficacy of an innovative training program designed to reduce nurses’ risk of infectious disease exposure. This venture will take place over a two-year period.

The participants (registered nurses) will complete web based educational training programs, one for Blood borne Pathogens and one for Tuberculosis. Both programs will focus on a mutually agreed upon target for change (e.g., reporting of needle sticks, annual PPD testing, etc.). Both programs will be simulation exercises (e.g., along the lines of a self-paced case study). The experimental portion of the study involves a baseline questionnaire (pretest) that will measure the nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and behavioral intentions regarding their infection control behaviors. There is an immediate post-test and follow-up post-test 3 months later. The pre-post test questionnaires and the actual training program will all be accessed through the study’s web site. The web site will be accessible directly at Columbia University’s web address or links from the Columbia School of Public Health’s main web page. A link to these sites will be created from the Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control (HEIC) website here at Johns Hopkins (www.hopkins-heic.com). The data extracted from the questionnaires will be collected by a web manager, and will only be available through a pass code. Therefore all of the questionnaire information collected will be confidential.

This study involves no risk to the nurses participating and will not adversely affect their rights or welfare as employees of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Participation by Registered Nurses at Johns Hopkins is voluntary.