NACCHO brings a unique public health perspective, helping local health departments in their role as educators and trainers on infection prevention and control (IPC) for the facility partners in their jurisdictions. NACCHO is working on developing a train-the-trainer eLearning curriculum for local health departments. The organization has developed a Living Learning Network for local health department staff and their partners to have regular opportunities to learn directly from subject matter experts.

NACCHO has been engaging in healthcare-associated infection (HAI) and IPC-related work since about 2011. Since that time, they have provided funding, technical assistance, and training opportunities to local health department demonstration sites. The organization continues to do this work and Project Firstline is a welcome addition to the ongoing demonstration site projects. Erin Laird is a senior program analyst with NACCHO. She said Project Firstline has given their organization a valuable set of tools allowing them to help local health departments.

“We’re supporting their facilities with preventing and controlling infections, such as Covid-19 and HAIs,” she said. “The project has also allowed NACCHO to build off of the lessons learned from over a decade of experience with demonstration sites, allowing them to incorporate these lessons into new materials that support more health departments.”

Controlling the spread of infectious disease is not new to NACCHO but COVID-19 has thrust local health departments into the spotlight and increased public awareness of IPC. NACCHO recognizes the critical role that local health departments play. Over the past couple of years national partners, healthcare facilities, and even the public are more aware of this role.

“Local health departments are well-positioned to improve healthcare IPC knowledge and practices within their community,” she said.

Laird said that includes responding to HAI cases, clusters, and outbreaks, assessing IPC practices to identify gaps, and providing continued assistance until infection control gaps have been addressed. All of that is possible by sharing resources and providing education to facility healthcare personnel. Local health departments can also share educational materials and host training with healthcare workers about IPC best practices to help reduce the burden of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

Project Firstline materials are geared to help learners of all levels understand infection control. Laird said the more everyone in a healthcare facility is on board with IPC measures, the more likely these measures are going to actually be implemented meaningfully, correctly, and consistently. Which can prevent the spread of infections and outbreaks and fewer cases or outbreaks help to keep everyone safe. Laird said the project has meant a lot to NACCHO.

“Local health department staff are often thrown into new roles and given new hats to wear, especially in a response situation like COVID-19, and they are not always provided the benefit of targeted training to feel confident in these roles,” she said. “Instead, they are often expected to learn on the job.”

Project Firstline has meant that NACCHO has been tasked with identifying the learning needs of local health department staff and developing and promoting training, technical assistance opportunities, and materials that are specifically geared to support health department staff in their IPC work.

The project has allowed NACCHO to reach a larger audience and connect with a network of incredible national partners. Laird said she’s excited about the relationships they have built with these partners, like the National Network of Public Health Institutes, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Hospital Association. These partnerships have allowed NACCHO to engage with their members and highlight the role of local health departments in IPC and invite them to speak with members.

Laird said Project Firstline has also allowed NACCHO to take a broad view of the learning needs of local health department members who are engaging in IPC activities and strategize how those needs can be addressed.

“Infection control can be a very scientific, technical topic and I think sometimes we lose sight of the human side of infection control,” Laird said. “Infectious diseases are scary and habits are hard to break.”

These factors have a really strong impact on behaviors, and ultimately, a lot of infection control actions are behaviors. Laird said people need training and education on the factual information; however, they also need to make sure they are helping public health workers navigate the human side of infection control.

“How do you employ active listening to understand the true barriers to implementing infection control? How do you deliver challenging feedback in a way that people will be receptive to? These skills are also important. That is something we have learned throughout our work in Project Firstline and it is a lesson that is impacting the direction of our work going forward.”

Laird said NACCHO is close to releasing a library of IPC resources developed with local health departments. It will allow the development of a train-the-trainer eLearning curriculum which will focus on training individuals in local health departments on IPC-related materials. Additionally, the attendees of the train-the-trainer learning program can use the library of resources as a toolkit. and toolkit for LHDs.

NACCHO is also currently convening a Living Learning Network to bolster local health department capacity related to IPC by creating space for peer discussions, hosting expert presentations, and sharing CDC’s Project Firstline training materials. Implementation will include a launch group of learners that we plan to engage in a community of practice.

“We will continue to assess the learning needs of our members and develop training materials and events to address their learning needs,” Laird said. “NACCHO recognizes how important it is to address the “human” side of infection control.”

NACCHO is one of many organizations that have partnered with Project Firstline. To see more of the work NACCHO has done with the project you can visit their website. To learn more about the project, check out the CDC’s page complete with tools and resources.