Help Topics

Click on one of the topics in the list below for information. If you have a question or problem on a topic that is not included in this list, e-mail our Webmaster at webmaster@engenderhealth.org.

Basic help for new users

1. What are the purpose and objectives of this course?
2. How can I improve my connection speed?
3. Where do I start?

Course modules

1. About the modules
2. Navigation
3. Optional branches
4. Content of the modules

1. Purpose and objectives

This is a pilot course under development: As you and your colleagues around the world test this course, we will continually refine and update this course.

This free course is designed to help health care providers, supervisors of health facilities, medical students, and nursing students develop or strengthen their ability to protect themselves, their clients, and members of the surrounding community from infections. The internationally accepted practices covered in this course use low-tech approaches that are practical, simple, easy to use, and generally inexpensive.

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

• Identify the risk of transmitting infectons to clients, health care workers, and the community via the health care setting.
• Explain the importance of infection prevention in a health care facility.
• Explain the internationally accepted, low-tech approaches for reducing the risk of infections.
• Identify infection prevention problems at your facility.
• Develop a plan to address priority infection prevention problems at your facility.

Although these infection prevention principles apply to any setting, the information provided in this course is geared toward staff who work in facilities in low-resource settings. Wherever possible, this course describes the lowest-cost methods available and provides alternatives for facilities that may experience frequent power outages or may be without running water and other basic supplies.

For more information, read the About This Course page.

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2. Connection speed

If you have a slow Internet connection, and are using a graphical browser (a browser that has pictures as well as text) there are a few things you can do to improve your connection speed:

1. If you have a very slow connection, turn images off.
Although navigational and illustrative images and a few high-bandwidth items are available in the course, all important content for the course is provided through text, and all tests and quizzes are designed to be accessible for all browsers. Most of the files within modules are quite small, so this course should be accessible to users with relatively slow Internet connectivity.

Even small images can take a long time if your connection is slow. The easiest, most noticeable option is to turn off images in your browser. The way to do this is slightly different in every browser, but you can usually access this feature through an Options or Preferences menu item. You can always turn the images back on and reload a page if you want to get all the graphics.

2. Download the course for offline reading.
Although you must be connected to the Internet to participate in the interactive tests and other interactive elements, you can save the course for reading offline, then connect to the Internet just to take the tests. This is a particularly good option for users who must pay by the hour for their Internet connections.

Go to the download page.

You can also save the individual pages of the course for offline reading. There are three ways of saving pages to your computer:

• If you are using a browser that has e-mail, you can e-mail yourself what you see on the screen (without images), usually through a File menu item.
• To save a file onto your hard drive, choose "Save" or "Save As" from the File menu. (Make sure that file type is set to "text.")
• To copy all of the text but none of the HTML code to another application (for example, to a Word document), use the Select All command, then copy and paste into your application.

2. Don't dither colors.
Your computer may not be able to read all colors used by this course. Your browser either automatically finds the closest substitute or uses a process called dithering, that tries to create a color that comes as close as possible to the intended shade. Dithering takes more time than automatic substitution, so if you don't mind some odd-looking colors occasionally, make sure dithering is turned off. Usually you can turn off dithering in an Options/Preferences menu item.

If the colors used in the course look strange, make sure you have your system set for the maximum number of colors it can support. This may vary from 16 or 256 colors to several million hues, depending on the type of monitor and graphics card installed in your computer.

3. Make your cache smaller.
Browsers usually store Web pages in both memory caches and disk caches, and your computer checks each newly requested document against both these caches. This can take unnecessary time. In most browsers you can set your cache option to check "once per session." If you notice that it takes an especially long time to shut down your browser, try reducing the size of your disk cache.

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3. Where to start

You can access all elements of this course on the course home page. You may want to bookmark the home page and return directly to it whenever you want to resume the course.

To begin the first module of the course, simply click on "Introduction: Disease Transmission."

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1. About the modules

This is a self-instructional course supplemented with interactive exercises and quizzes.

This course, which was first posted in April 1999, consists of nine modules that comprise an essential course in infection prevention for health care providers. Each module is accompanied by features designed to enhance your comprehension of the module's content and to help you apply the content to your everyday work.

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2. Navigation

The first and Making It Work page of each module contain links to any features (case studies, "Making It Work!" section, the quiz, and games) that correspond to the content of the module. The features are designed to be used after you have read throught the content of the course, but can be reviewed at any time you feel ready.

You can return to the first page of the module at any point by clicking the "Module Home" link at the bottom of each module page. You can return to this Help section or to the Course Home page at any time by clicking the corresponding links in the navigation at the bottom and top of each module page.

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3. Optional branches

At the end of the branch, you will find a link back to the same place in the module where the optional branch occurred. If the content of the link does not apply to your particular situation, you may choose not to click on it: Content in the optional branches is not generally included in the module quiz.

4. Content of the modules

• Introduction: Disease Transmission
  Presents a broad overview of infection prevention and discusses the particular risks to health care workers, their clients, and their local communities.
• Handwashing
  Discusses the essential, but often overlooked, role routine handwashing plays in infection prevention.
• Gloving
  Discusses the three kinds of gloves used for different tasks in a health care setting and how each should be used.
• Introduction to Aseptic Technique
  Explains the concept of asepsis and describes the procedures that can protect both clients and health care providers during clinical and surgical procedures.
• Surgical Scrub and Surgical Attire
  Provides a detailed look at the steps of surgical scrub and surgical gloving and describes the role each item of surgical attire plays in protecting both clients and providers.
• Needles and Other Sharps
  Describes the particular risks sharps pose to health care providers, clients, and the local community and explains how to safely handle and dispose of sharp instruments.
• Instrument Processing
  Discusses the procedures to follow in properly decontaminating, cleaning, sterilizing or high-level disinfecting, and storing instruments and other items that will be reused in clinical procedures.
• Housekeeping
  Describes safe and appropriate practices for disinfecting and cleaning operating rooms, procedure rooms, and other areas of a health care facility
• Waste Disposal
  Discusses the importance of proper waste management in protecting health care providers, clients, and the local community from the spread of infections from contaminated waste.

The modules are listed here and on the course home page in the recommended order, but you may complete the modules in whatever order you prefer. Simply click on the first module title on the course home page to begin the course. We recommend that you bookmark the course home page and return to it directly whenever you wish to resume the course.

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©2004 EngenderHealth. This course was made possible through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.