Resources for Staff Training

NOTE: The resources included here do not constitute an endorsement by the Center for Patient Safety (CPS). CPS does not attest to the accuracy of information provided by linked sites.

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Education and Training Catalog consists of patient safety programs currently available in the United States. The catalog, featured on AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network site, offers a database of patient safety education and training programs, each tagged for easy searching and browsing. The database identifies a number of characteristics of the programs, including clinical area, program and learning objectives, evaluation measures, and cost.

These brief videos offer self-paced learning for those on the front lines of nursing home care, including nursing assistants, housekeeping, dietary, and maintenance staff, and others.

The goal of this educational module is to introduce persons working in nursing homes and assisted living facilities to the principles of high reliability and how they can be applied to preventing infections in residents. This 50-minute e-learning tool was developed by the Joint Commission with partial funding from AHRQ. It features quizzes and a searchable database of practical resources. The free CDs and online format are available to all facilities, not only Joint Commission customers.

The Improving Patient Safety in Long-Term Care Facilities: Training Modules materials are intended for use in training frontline personnel in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The materials were developed for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) under a contract to the RAND Corporation. They are organized into three modules:

• Module 1: Detecting Change in a Resident’s Condition
• Module 2: Communicating Change in a Resident’s Condition
• Module 3: Falls Prevention and Management

“Try This” is a series of assessment tools, developed by the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University’s College of Nursing, where each issue focuses on a topic specific to older adults. The content is directed to orient and encourage all nurses to understand the special needs of older adults and to use the highest standards of practice in caring for older adults.

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This tool was developed by the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. This tool provides a detailed description of pressure ulcer prevention points, with references to literature and other resources.

This training program is designed to introduce pharmacists to the problem of low health literacy in patient populations and to identify the implications of this problem for the delivery of healthcare services. The program also explains techniques that pharmacy staff members can use to improve communication with patients who may have limited health literacy skills.

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority is charged with taking steps to reduce and eliminate medical errors by identifying problems and recommending solutions that promote patient safety in various healthcare settings. This article discusses the issues associated with the location of clinical emergencies and strategies for facilities to achieve rapid response preparedness.

The Clinical Directors Network, Inc. (CDN) is a not-for-profit network of primary care clinicians, researchers, and healthcare workers, provides several training resources pertaining to healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention in ambulatory care settings. Training topics include creating and implementing infection control programs in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), preventing surgical site infections, using safe injection practices, and cleaning, sterilization, and high-level disinfection.