Infection Preventionist Boot Camp, essentials for the beginner infection preventionist

by Peggy Prinz Luebbert, MS, MT(ASCP), CIC, CHSP and Ron Stoker

As we were developing our Infection Preventionist Boot Camp webinar on “IP Resources,” I asked my local APIC members at a recent meeting as to what resources they commonly used to do their jobs. After the gathering, one member came up to me and noted that the best resource she had when she started and continued today was that of a “mentor” IP. She is the only IP in her 100-bed facility and has no one internally who knows infection prevention at a level that can assist her in day-to-day questions, so she found a “mentor” in a infection preventionist that she had met at a workshop. Even though she has volumes  and volumes of written resources available to her, when she gets in a situation where she needs specific help she calls or e-mails her mentor to help her out!

If you look for the formal definition of a “mentoring” you might find:

“Process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development. It entails informal communication, during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé).” (Bozeman, Feeney, 2007)

As complicated as this sounds, it really is truly what we should strive to do be—either a mentor or protégé. Mentoring brings value to everyone involved in its practice: protégés, mentors and the organization(s) for which they work.

• Protégés have an opportunity to gain wisdom from someone who has traveled the path before them.
• Mentors have an opportunity to invest themselves in someone who seeks what they can offer.
• The organization has the opportunity to share and spread its acquired learning and know-how.

In addition to those who are directly involved in its practice, mentoring also helps the over all profession of infection prevention because it fosters an environment in which people work together and assist one another in their drive to become better skilled, more intelligent individuals.

When I look back at my career in infection prevention I have had many mentors—both formal and informal. A couple of people that come to mind off hand include:

• When I first checked into changing jobs years ago from the laboratory into infection control, I called a microbiology friend of mine and picked his brain about the job. He first laughed and said, “Are you crazy? You are a chemist, you don’t know the difference between staph and strep and you want to do what?” But then he stopped, changed directions and said that I would be great at the job since I enjoyed education and motivation and those were two important parts of this job. Since that day, more than 20 years ago, I regularly call him and share stories, concerns and issues. He does the same. I teach him what is going on in the patient care trenches and he keeps me up on the lab activities and processes … a perfect mentoring that has turned into a lasting professional relationship!
• For years, an IP peer at a competitive hospital and I found that we were worked well together. We have completely different strengths and weaknesses and found that we could “fill each other’s gaps” as far as knowledge, vision, etc. We have been professional friends for more than 15 years now. Sometimes it is weeks between e-mails, phone calls or lunches but each time we do interact we rekindled each other’s fire!
• As I moved into the consulting phase of my career I realized that I was really, really alone and needed to mentor with other seasoned consultants. APIC again offered me the connections that I had developed over time to find these great mentors. One IP consultant in particular on the East Coast has been so helpful in assisting me on such details as how to develop contracts, time management and finding resources. I could not have made it without her.

Finding a good mentor can often be difficult, if not almost impossible as good mentors are normally very good at their work. Since they already have high demands for their skills and time, they might be reluctant to take on a new protégé. Yet people who study “mentoring” note that middle-aged adults want to make an impact on the generation that follows particularly in their field of expertise and are opt to assist if asked!

In addition, once a person has gained expertise in one or more areas, they will consider returning the favor by mentoring others, even if it is for a short-term special project—for one of the best ways to learn is to teach others!

It is important to appreciate the differences between relationships you might develop in your professional world. These include: instructing, coaching and mentoring. Instructing deals largely with the dissemination of knowledge. Coaching deals primarily with skill building, whereas a mentor is one who helps shape the outlook or attitude of the individual. Alternately, an instructor would typically help out with the job at hand or the work. A coach would help out with work and career related issues. A mentor on the other hand would focus on issues pertaining to career and life. These are all similar and can blend together at times but they each have a purpose.

If you strive for a formal mentor consider these mentoring principles.

Strive for mutual benefits. The relationship should be defined from the beginning as mutually beneficial. Each participant has committed to the relationship by choice. Each should openly share his or her goals for the relationship and work collaboratively to help achieve them.
Agree on confidentiality. Maintaining an environment of confidentiality is a critical component in building trust between the participants. Without a mutually understood ability to speak freely as the situation warrants, the relationship is unlikely to reach its full potential.
Commit to honesty. The participants should be willing to candidly share what they expect to gain from the relationship and their vision for getting there. They should be prepared to offer frank feedback as appropriate, even if the feedback is critical.
Listen and learn. Mutual benefit and honesty can only be achieved when both members feel their viewpoints are heard and respected. Mentors, especially, need to remember that the relationship is not primarily about them. Lead by example.

Each of us can look at our lives and recall people who touched it in meaningful and powerful ways. These people offered us guidance, support, wisdom, a safe haven where we could expose our thoughts and concerns.

So where do you find these instructors, coaches and mentors? Usually they are all around you if you just start interacting at work and in your professional organizations—watching and learning. They will appear! It is good to have someone in your place of employment—whether in your department or not—who can guide you through the idiosyncrasies and culture of your employer, one in your professional organizations like APIC and maybe at least one in a field that interacts with your position. I have found much guidance through local company reps, for example, who over the years we have developed a professional relationship where we assist each other in the different perspectives of our jobs.

As we have developed our series on “Infection Preventionist Boot Camp,” we have recognized the need for developing these connections and will be initiating a program called “Master Minds in Infection Prevention.” We have identified a dozen or so people who have developed an expertise in their field and are willing to  instruct, or coach (and maybe even mentor!) participants in the Boot Camp program. Areas of expertise will include, surveillance, occupational health, intravenous lines (PICCs, Ports, Peripheral ,etc.), emergency preparedness, body fluid exposures/safe sharps, ambulatory surgery sterilization and disinfection, microbiology/lab, OSHA, Joint Commission, safety, public health, etc. to start with. They will make themselves available to assist with day-to-day questions such as:

• I just had a patient get stuck with a sharp from an insulin pen that had been used on another patient who is now dismissed. How do I manage this since the source is another patient?
• The practice we are using for transporting Contact Isolation patients to X-Ray is cumbersome from the PPE perspective. What is a good way to manage this?

More information on this program will be available in the near future! Meanwhile, take a good look around for that instructor, coach or mentor that you might need or could be! They will appear!

References

• Buell, Cindy (January 2004). “Models of Mentoring in Communication.” Communication review 53 (1): 56 – 73. ISSN 1479-5795. 
• Bozeman, B. and Feeney, M. K. (2007). Toward a useful theory of mentoring: A conceptual analysis and critique. Administrative and society. 39 (6),719 – 739.
• Wikepedia “Mentorship” viewed on June 19, 2010.

Peggy Prinz Luebbert, MS, MT(ASCP), CIC, CHSP, is the owner and consultant for Healthcare Interventions Inc., Omaha, Neb. Luebbert, a medical technologist with a master’s degree in pathology, has worked in infection control for more than 20 years, and has published and lectured extensively on a national level. She is certified in infection control and healthcare safety. Most recently, Ms. Luebbert authored the “Third Edition of the Infection Control Compliance Guide.” She is a founder and lecturer for the Infection Preventionist Boot Camp.

Ron Stoker, MS, is the executive director of the International Sharps Injury Prevention Society (ISIPS). He has 29 years experience in the medical device industry as a researcher, marketer, educator, consultant and healthcare worker advocate. He has written more than 200 medical journal articles, primarily on sharps injury prevention, infection control, and hand hygiene. Mr. Stoker has his BS in Pre-Medical Zoology from Brigham Young University, an MS in Bioengineering from the University of Utah and an “honorary doctorate” from the school of hard-knocks. As a result of a surgical mishap he was rendered a quadriplegic in December 2006. Informed that he would never walk again, with tenacity and a “supportive and mean wife,” Mr. Stoker taught himself how to walk again. He says that he walks like an “alcoholic” but is really just a recovering quadriplegic!

Mr. Stoker has conducted workshops and Congresses on sharps safety at national and international meetings for the last 10 years. He is a founder and lecturer for the Infection Preventionist Boot Camp Series. For more information contact Mr. Stoker at info@isips.org.