LANSING – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is pleased to announce two new free infection control training videos are now available for direct care workers.

The videos were produced through a partnership with IMPART Alliance in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University. MDHHS granted IMPART Alliance $50,000 in COVID-19 Relief Funds to develop an infection control curriculum and to make it widely available to direct care workers, as well as any other professional, clinical or family caregivers.

“We are excited to offer these courses on infection control for direct care workers to help protect both the clients and those who provide care to them,” said Kate Massey, senior deputy director of MDHHS’ Medical Services Administration. “Without proper training on infection control, direct care workers could unknowingly transfer COVID-19 or other infectious diseases from client to client, and put themselves, their families and the greater community at risk.”

Certified Nursing Assistant courses are required for direct care workers employed in nursing facilities, but similar training is not universally required for home- and community-based services and programs. MDHHS encourages all direct care workers (DCW) who provide services to individuals in their homes or other non-office-based settings to take this training.

Two trainings are available. Infection Control for Direct Care Workers is approximately one hour and is an interactive class that provides a comprehensive overview on the topic of infection control, including sources of infection, the chain of infection, standard and universal precautions and personal protective equipment demonstrations.

The Infection Control Refresher for Direct Care Workers course is approximately one hour and is a reference tool that provides a brief overview of standard infection control procedures and detailed demonstrations of the proper use of personal protective equipment. Continuing Education Units are available for social workers and nurses. Both infection control trainings have been reviewed and approved by the State Training Guidelines Workgroup.

The infection control classes can be accessed through the “https://www.improvingmipractices.org”>Improving MI Practices website. Individual and agency accounts are free. Log in or create a new account, follow the instructions, complete the online form and find and take the class. To find the class, simply type the class name into the search bar, click on the course name, then click on “TAKE THIS COURSE.” Upon course completion, a printable certificate is available.

Agency accounts are free and available at Improvingmipractices.org/agencies. An agency account allows an agency manager to oversee employees or contractors associated with the agency.

IMPART Alliance is a coalition of researchers, direct care workers, providers, clients, advocates and agencies working together to develop a competent home care workforce, and improve the lives of direct care workers and the individual they serve. IMPART Alliance strives to address multiple components of workforce development including building on the evidence-based training program “Building Training…Building QualityTM” — establishing a DCW professional association and establishing a highly diverse statewide coalition who will determine feasible win-win strategies for ensuring a high-quality DCW workforce.

For more information, contact IMPART Alliance at Impartalliance.org or impart@msu.edu.