Regional healthcare workers upskilled through latest infection control training

• Infection control workshop hosted by Three Rivers Department
  of Rural Health and Murrumbidgee Local Health District in Wagga Wagga on
  Thursday 19 June

Charles Sturt University continues to support professional development of regional healthcare workers through the latest in a series of collaborative workshops with the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD).

Charles Sturt’s Three Rivers Department of Rural Health (DRH) partnered with the MLHD to host a workshop at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital on Thursday 19 June, which is the fourth of its kind.

The workshop, titled ‘Microbiology for rural health nurses and clinical healthcare workers’, provided up-to-date infection control training to practitioners across the region.

Associate Professor in Immunology with the Charles Sturt School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences Thiru Vanniasinkam is also a researcher with Three Rivers DRH and has run similar workshops before.

Professor Vanniasinkam said access to these types of workshops can be limited in regional Australia so it was important for the organisations to continue to provide training.

“Continuing
professional education in microbiology and infection control is critical for
every healthcare professional member of the patient care team,” she said.

“Staff from Charles Sturt and MLHD are collaborating to provide an opportunity for nurses and other healthcare workers from regional hospitals in the MLHD to gain professional training microbiology in the context of infection prevention and control.”

Media Note:

To arrange interviews with Associate Professor Thiru Vanniasinkam, contact Nicole Barlow at Charles Sturt Media on 0429217026 or [email protected].

Three Rivers Department of Rural Health (DRH) aims to improve the recruitment and retention of nursing, midwifery, allied health and dentistry professionals in rural and remote Australia. It is led, administered and operated by Charles Sturt University in a consortium partnership with The University of Notre Dame, the University of New South Wales and Western Sydney University. Three Rivers DRH is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training program.

PHOTO: (L-R) Ms Mary-Clare Smith, Infection Prevention Control District Clinical Nurse Consultant, Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Charles Sturt University’s Associate Professor Thiru Vanniasinkam.