Infection Management Game shortlisted for Nursing Times Award Here

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Nursing Times Awards, as well as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. Following a difficult year, the 2020 awards ceremony will be extra special to ensure that the hard work and dedication of the nursing profession is recognised and celebrated.

The Infection Management Game is shortlisted in the Infection Prevention and Control category. This category recognises infection prevention and control remains a major challenge in healthcare. Nurses at all levels and in all specialties and environments are involved in initiatives aimed at preventing or minimising the spread of infection.

This award was open to individual nurses or teams working in acute or community settings, in the NHS or independent sector and aims to recognise projects that take an innovative approach to this important area of practice.

• Entrants may be infection prevention and control specialist nurses, general nurses or nurses working in any clinical specialty
• Should have implemented an initiative to improve practice within their immediate area or more widely across their organisation or community
• Should be able to demonstrate clear outcomes and show that their initiative has changed practice or procedures and reduced infection-related risks to patients.

As an Infection Surveillance Nurse, Odette Brooks (NHS Lothian) came up with a concept for what would become The Infection Management Game, a training tool which offers a unique approach to staff training about the effective management of patients with suspected or known infections. It encourages groups of staff to work with relevant policy documents and improve their knowledge and confidence when managing patients and risk. Odette’s original prototype was developed and supported by Scottish Health Innovations Ltd (SHIL), and commercialised by Focus Games.

The Infection Management Game was launched in July 2019. It offers significant benefits as a training tool:

• Best practice: the game is designed to work with ALL local, regional or national Infection Prevention and Control policy documents in printed or digital format
• Concise: designed to be played in 20 – 40 minutes, allowing staff to organise training in the workplace at a time that suits them
• Broad usage: suitable for use in the training of a wide variety of healthcare staff, including qualified nurses, junior doctors, Allied Health Professionals, student nurses, healthcare assistants and support staff
• Adaptable: the game can be used across all NHS Scotland workplaces, supporting staff training, informal workplace learning and university or college tutorial exercises.

The game has been used by NHS Health Boards across Scotland including the Western Isles, Lanarkshire and Lothian, by NHS Acute Trusts in England, including Surrey and Sussex, Buckingham, East Suffolk, Berkshire and Salisbury, Local Authorities such as Leeds City Council and by Teeside University for nurse training.

Read more

• Read more about the Infection Management Game
• Purchase the Infection Management Game
• Nursing Times Award 2020 Shortlist
• Read about other SHIL supported products