The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on infection prevention and control (IPAC) in Ontario’s long-term care (LTC) homes. In Spring 2021, the Ontario CLRI at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA) released an IPAC resource page and eLearning series. Now we have added to the eLearning series with a new course: IPAC While Infection Prevention and Control While Supporting Residents Living with Dementia

“Our eLearning courses are based on situations that team members encounter in their work,” says Audra Thompson-Haile, Interim Director for the Ontario CLRI at the RIA. “This eLearning helps team members and essential care partners transfer IPAC knowledge to the care they provide.”

The new eLearning course focuses on using IPAC best practices while assisting residents living with dementia. It applies a person-centred, strengths-based approach to situations including meeting a resident’s needs while they are in isolation, assisting a resident to stay in their isolation area, administering a nasal swab, and assisting a resident with effective hand-washing.

With the IPAC resource page and eLearning series, learners will be able to apply their IPAC knowledge and skills to specific scenarios in LTC homes and situations encountered in the community.

Here are the eLearning courses that we have available for our IPAC series:

1. Break the Chain of Transmission: IPAC Core Concepts and Practices (prerequisite for the other courses in the IPAC eLearning series) – Also in French!
   • Types of Transmission and the Chain of Transmission
   • Additional Precautions and Routine Practices in Long-term Care
   • Applying Best Practices for Hand Hygiene and PPE
2. IPAC While Supporting Residents at Mealtime – Also in French!
3. IPAC While Travelling To and From an LTC Home – Also in French!
4. IPAC While Administering Medication
5. IPAC While Supporting Residents with Personal Care: Peri-Care, Continence Care and Using the Toilet
6. IPAC While Supporting Residents  with Personal Care: Bathing, Dressing, and Grooming
7. IPAC While Supporting Residents Living with Dementia

Courses 1-6 are also available in French, while course 7 will also soon be released in French.

Visit the IPAC in LTC page.

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The IPAC in LTC courses and training materials have been developed by the Ontario CLRI at the RIA in collaboration with an expert panel of IPAC specialists working in LTC and an advisory panel of LTC team members, essential care partners, and The Ontario Caregiver Organization.