West Bank Hospital Becomes Prevention and Control Model

CRS provides training and hands-on interactive instruction on practicing and upholding IPC standards to protect patients, visitors and staff.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Tubas Governmental Hospital, the only hospital in the West Bank’s Tubas governorate, has faced shortages in infection prevention and control (IPC) supplies, and gaps in its ability to meet IPC minimum standards.

Tubas Quality Coordinator Ahmad Bani Odeh, an advocate for proper infection prevention procedures, emphasizes how essential these standards are “to protect patients, visitors and staff from acquiring an infection and to control infection transmission,” especially in facilities that also treat COVID-19.

“We consider the training and coaching visits as the backbone to enable us to practice IPC measures. Now we are effectively using the IPC tools, and practicing hand hygiene, safe injection practices, and environmental cleaning of high-touch areas. The coaching visits help solve many problems despite the many challenges we face.”

Muhannad Basharat
Tubas IPC Coordinator

Inadequate application of IPC standards can lead to serious health hazards for patients, such as increased morbidity and mortality. Longer hospital stays increase costs for patients and the facility. Effective IPC is also essential for providing a safe environment in which health-care workers can provide quality care.

As COVID-19 cases surged in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry focused on the quality application of IPC standards in its health-care facilities and, through generous support from USAID, CRS is supporting the staff of Tubas and other MOH health-care facilities across the West Bank with IPC minimum standards trainings. These trainings provide hands-on interactive instruction on practicing and upholding IPC standards, including hand and respiratory hygiene and other precautions to reduce COVID-19 transmission. After the trainings, CRS provides in-person coaching visits to health-care facilities by CRS IPC technical advisors to ensure that lessons from the trainings are put into practice.

Tubas Director Dr. Mohammad Samara said: “This training and coaching is helping us gain knowledge that is empowering us as hospital leaders. CRS support has helped us to control hospital infections. It really empowered us, and we feel proud of the changes that have taken place.”