The objective of this project is to raise awareness in the matter of biosafety in healthcare officials other than physicians working with clinical samples: spread exact and current information regarding biosafety with the training of the personnel and via digital platform by developing a face-to-face, interactive, and standardized training programme. Participant profile within the scope of the project: The intended population of this project is the laboratory personnel other than physicians (microbiology, biochemistry, pathology, etc) working with clinical samples. The meetings and trainings to be organised include the pilot training (Ankara), training in Ankara, training in Antalya, training in Çorum, dissemination meetings overseas (Spain and Portugal), final conference, creation of the web page. Main activities and methodology: Our main activities aim at forming a reference book in the mother tongue, which is accessible and suitable to the level of the intended population; developing a standardized, understandable, and practical training program; and enabling access to all documents via digital platform. In addition, the methodology comprises of: 1. Kick off meeting: Preparation of the initial report 2. Needs assessment: Preaparation of the field trip to be organised and the needs assessment report 3. Preparation of training materials: Forming a curriculum, preparing a book, standardized training slides, training videos and evaluation tools (pre-pos tests), providing pilot training and the number of participants, preparing the pilot training report. 4. Trainings: Preparation of the training evaluation forms (pre-post tests) and training evaluation reports following trainings in every province. 5. Dissemination activities: Web page, mobile application, online crossword applications, brochure, dissemination activities overseas, final meeting, translation of all documents into English and other necessary languages, preparation of the closing report. Especially, mobile applications will provide ease of use for people working on this area. Online crossword applications will be both enjoyable and educational to the user. These two applications in this area will be done for the first time. 6. Project Monitoring and Evaluation Activities: Evaluation of the initial report and the needs assessment report, observation of the pilot training in situ, evaluation of the pilot training report, evaluation of the book and training documents, evaluation of the training reports, revision of the translated documents, closing report and the approval of the project budget. The outcomes of the project and its anticipated impact: It is expected from the participants through planned training activities to directly develop awareness in the practices carried out in laboratories and to change behaviour. Moreover, it is the aim of this project to create a reference book that is easy to access. Not only the direct participants of the training but also the laboratory personnel other than physicians shall be reached through the web page. In line with the objectives of the project, information enriched by international experiences shall be shared with national project partners, and there shall be at least three institutions where this matter is institutionalised. On the other hand, the development of national and international interinstitutional relations shall provide opportunities for more comprehensive projects. Long term advantages of the outcomes of the project: Groundwork shall be laid in order to share the information and experience gained by both international dissemination meetings and by means of final meeting with the stakeholderds. With the comprehension of the significance of the matter, the long term advantage of the project is foressen as preventing the high number of occupational accidents in laboratories working with clinical samples in our country.
In line with the Service Quality Standards of the Ministry of Health and laboratory authorization works, some safety precautions for laboratories have been tried to be taken. However, awareness on this issue was extremely low in the field. Unfortunately, guidebooks and educational documents on occupational and laboratory safety comprising our intended population of laboratory personnel other than physicians has been quite insufficient. The objective of this project was to raise awareness in the matter of biosafety in healthcare officials other than physicians working with clinical samples: spread exact and current information regarding biosafety with the training of the personnel and via digital platform by developing a face-to-face, interactive, and standardized training programme. Main activities were realized in three phase: Preparation, Application and Dissemination. A. Preparation Phase (October 2017- November 2018): Within the first month of the project, a kick-off meeting held with the project partners to determine a route map. The undertaking and functioning of the project, communication procedures and decision-making mechanisms were discussed. Business calendar of the project and distribution of work reviewed. At the end of the meeting, an initial report prepared. The needs of the intended population obtained by questioners and direct observation during the kick-off meeting. Documents, materials, tools and infrastructure requirements that help meet these needs were determined and the needs assessment report were prepared. In order to get experience in the field of laboratory biosafety in EU countries, Portuguese and Spain selected since they located in the Mediterranean Basin where similar sociocultural and demographic characteristics with our country had. After realizing the Transnational field trips to Portuguese and Spain, the experience and documents get from those trips were used for preparing the training materials [curriculum of training, standardized training slides, training videos, evaluation tools (pre-pos tests), short movies, online cross word application, mobile application]. On the other hand “Basic Biosafety Rules for Laboratory Personnel” book suitable to the level of the intended population has been written by the core team. All of the documents created during the project were added to web page (www.biosafetyinlab.com) which were done for the dissemination and the visualization of the project. B. Application Phase (December 2018- April 2019): Participant profile within the scope of the project was the laboratory personnel other than physicians (microbiology, biochemistry, pathology, etc) working with clinical samples. After realizing of Pilot Training for 21 healthcare officials in Ankara (December 2018), results of the training and feed backs were evaluated in Pilot Training Report. All training materials have been reviewed and necessary changes according to feedback have been reflected such as legal perspective of laboratory safety was added to curriculum. Trainings in Ankara, Corum and Antalya were realized consecutively and total 60 participants were joined. At the end of the each turn, Training Reports have been prepared for evaluation. At the end, 81 people were directly trained with the training materials produced for the “Keep Lab Safety, Keep You Healthy Project”. C. Dissemination Phase (May- September 2019): International field trips to Portuguese and Spain, and also Final Project Meeting in Ankara were realized for dissemination of all outputs. Roughly, 150 people joined to these activities. For better visualization of the project, web page (www.biosafetyinlab.com) has been prepared at least in two languages (English and Turkish). Some of the documents also translated to Portuguese and Spanish although budget cut. For the monitoring of the quality, Project Monitoring and Evaluation Team was established. All of the outputs and expenses belongs to the project were evaluated by this team. At the end of the project it is assumed that, the objective of the project was achieved by trainings and training materials (including mobile application, web page and others). Not only 81 participants who involve directly to the training, but also other laboratory personnel could reach to all of the outputs through the web page. In line with the objectives of the project, information enriched by international experiences were shared with national project partners, and at least in three national partners, biosafety in laboratory was institutionalized. The long term advantage of the project is foreseen as preventing the high number of occupational accidents in laboratories working with clinical samples in our country. On the other hand, the development of national and international inter institutional relations shall provide opportunities for more comprehensive projects.