The primary context of the project is nursing education in the field of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) prevention and control. Hence the project’s context is extended to healthcare organizations as well as healthcare staff and consumers of healthcare services. In Europe, a new approach in healthcare is needed to effectively face the growing incidence and prevalence of HCAIs and antimicrobial resistance in clinical settings. Current reports from major European entities sustain the need for early training of healthcare students and training courses for the development of professional in the scope of HCAIs prevention and control. The challenge will be to provide more and better quality care within the same resources, as European health systems face growing economic and social pressures to remain resilient to major threats such as HCAIs, without necessarily having more material and human resources to overcome them. In this sense, notorious European entities such as the European Comission (2014) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (2017) esteem that the academic training of health professionals, highlighting the role of nurses in this field, is essential to achieve these societal goals. However, higher education institutions of health professionals must integrate HCAIs prevention and control courses and learning methods into their curriculum, so that students will be future-proof and act as ambassadors in clinical settings who strive for the provision of safe and quality care. Therefore, the main objective of the InovSafeCare project is to develop the InovSafeCare Model for nursing education in HCAIs prevention and control. It will be a generic model containing the organisational, educational and professional elements for the development of students’ competences in this field. In addition to the clinical recommendations of best practices in this field, the InovSafeCare Model will be composed of a pedagogical dimension that will stimulate in nursing students the need to think critically about the realities around them and to develop innovative ideas that fill the gaps identified in the scope of HCAIs prevention and control. In order to assist the pedagogical dimension of the model, InovSafeCare guidelines for good practice and Simulation Scenarios will be created in this thematic field, which will be made freely available to students, teachers and nurses in an E-book format as a didactic learning tool. The InovSafeCare Model is reinforced by the InovSafeCare Community. The InovSafeCare Community is a community of teaching, students and professionals in the field of nursing. Moreover, the community gathers other stakeholders such as representatives from healthcare institutions and technological enterprises, as well as experts from other scientific areas who are interested in including HCAIs prevention and control learning methods into nursing training and education. The community serves as a platform to spread innovative solutions and exchange good practices in the field of nursing that aim at resolving current challenges related to HCAIs prevention and control.
1) Background of the Project: Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) and antimicrobial resistance are some of the most serious threats to patient and care efficiency (Council Recommendation 2009/C 151/01 of 9 June 2009). The World Health Organization (2015) emphasized this problem and the importance of making HCAIs prevention and antimicrobial resistance core components of professional education, reinforcing the role played by the academia in generating such knowledge and translating it into practice. 2) Objectives: a) To develop the InovSafeCare Model for nursing students focused on developing their competencies in HCAI prevention and control; b) Foster entrepreneurial skills in nursing students; c) Develop collaborative networks between Higher Education Institutions (HEI); d) Create conditions for the continuity of the project disseminating the InovSafeCare Model in the Community. 3) Number and Type/Profile of Participants: The accountable participants addressed were mainly nursing students, nursing teachers from various areas of knowledge and clinical practice nurses, counting participation of 1.326 nursing students and 622 nursing teachers/lecturers/mentors from 53 different HEI (Annexes 02, 03.3, 03.4, 03.5 04 and 05). Other activities were held (e.g. oral communications, publication of scientific articles) that will certainly increased the number of stakeholders reached. 4) Description of Undertaken Activities, Results, Impact attained and Longer-term Benefits: IO1 - InovSafeCare Model (Working Days: ESEnfC: 207; IP Santarém: 176; Savonia: 123; PSW Gniezno: 173; USAL: 180): IO1.1 - Development of the InovSafeCare Model (Annex 02). IO2 - InovSafeCare E-book and Simulation Scenarios (Working Days: ESEnfC: 99; IP Santarém: 84; Savonia: 95; PSW Gniezno: 92; USAL: 90): IO2.1 - An E-book was inittially proposed (the Consortium believed it would be static and not very dynamic and attractive). It was considered necessary to go beyond the E-book idea and build a MOOC - Massive Open Online Course (Annex 03.1). IO3 - InovSafeCare Community (Working Days: ESEnfC: 70; IP Santarém: 43; Savonia: 98; PSW Gniezno: 75; USAL: 61): The IO3 aimed to create conditions for the continuity of the project, disseminating the InovSafeCare Model in the Community, involving students, teachers, healthcare professionals and communities from other countries. The global dedicated working days for IO3 was 347 days, as listed in Annex 14 (Timesheets). IO3.1 - Development of the InovSafeCare Website The InovSafeCare website (http://inovsafecare.eu/) was developed to guarantee the existence of a meeting portal for all relevant stakeholders interested. Substantial working days were spent in the initial development and continuous content update. IO3.2 – Conduction of five Multiplier Events (ME) Substantial a priori preparation working days between the consortium partners was required to ensure a structured, standardized and evidence-informed implementation of the ME in the different partner countries (Annex 05). IO3.3 – Conduction of four Learning Teaching Training activities (LTT) Free registration with the training of 180 local stakeholders (Annex 04), with the aim of ensuring the creation of a national core of teachers and nursing mentors with expertise in the implementation of the InovSafeCare results; IO3.4 - InovSafeCare brand registration The consortium decided to register the InovSafeCare brand to further ensure the project’s sustainability and rights in future developments. The application process also required dedicated working days from the project partners. IO3.5 - Dissemination of the project findings through scientific articles Scientific articles were published, some of them in Impact Factor journals (Annexes 07.1 and 07.2). Substantial working days (Annex 14) were required to analyze data, write, submit, respond to peer-reviewers and ensure proper dissemination of the articles. IO3.6 - Oral and posters communications at scientific events Following the same guiding principle stated before, the consortium partners dedicated working days in the writing, submission and presentation of the InovSafeCare project developments and findings with relevant stakeholders through the participation in scientific events (Annex 10). IO3.7 - News and press articles To further disseminate the project mission and developed IOs, strengthening our commitment to reach an wider audience who will be introduced to the InovSafeCare Community (Annex 10). IO3.8 – The InovSafeCare project extensions The InovSafeCare project consortium dedicated time to search for funded opportunities to further expand the InovSafeCare Community beyond the partner countries, which have already been approved (Logo example in Annex 09). For more detailed description of the undertaken activities in IO3, please check Annex 15. DOWNLOAD ALL ANNEXES (until 25/12/2022) - https://filesender.fccn.pt/?s=download&token=66a6fd62-e952-4d51-8836-e108aec535ca