SQT Blog

Our Healthcare tutor Dr Kevina O’Donoghue tells us about her recent training experience in Libya…

When I was asked by a colleague to go to Libya to work with theatre nurses on sterilisation processes and parameters, my adventurous side came out and I jumped at the opportunity. Packing the suitcase was the hardest job, trying to get clothes that were light due to the heat yet covered the arms and the bum. On arriving into Tripoli airport the burnt out planes and bullet holes through the glass, were the first signs of the war that had ended not so long ago. On entering the airport building we had to get our passports stamped. This process took 3 hours and could have taken longer only for a libyian stranger happened to cross our paths. He greeted us with ‘conas ata tu’ followed by ‘well ye are brave women coming to libya’ – just what you need to hear at the start of your trip. This guy stayed with us ensuring that 3 hours later, after a lot of shouting through a small window, we got our stamped passports back and insisted on paying our fee to get into the country in return for a prayer – do you know of anybody in Ireland that would do that? This however was the first insight to the lack of systems and processes in Libya. We nearly had an IT system developed for them while we were waiting. It was clear that they work at a very different pace to what we are used to.

Our first day meeting with the nurses was exciting but again the lack of teamwork and communication skills was apparent. The concept of working in teams or groups was incomprehensible on the first day and they kept placing the chairs back to straight lines. By day two we finally had the concept of group work and were beginning to work together. Within the hospital structure, departments are very disjointed from each other and do not rely on other departments for theatres or sterilisation services. There is no link or need for communication between them. Listening to each other is not a skill that is used much. Everybody talks at the same time getting continuously louder so that they can be heard. This at times could get frustrating as tutors, considering the language barrier. We had the most fantastic translator and she could really connect with us. She had fantastic English both written and oral and helped us greatly in getting our message across however we did have to practice our acting skills now and again to deliver key messages and ensure they were embedded.

On visiting the theatres and sterilisation areas it was clear on one hand that the sterilisation process for reusable instruments needed to be improved greatly, however on the other hand I did wonder how there wasn’t more fatalities due to the current process. It became clear that their immune system was far greater than ours, even though there is no tracking or trending of infection control so it’s difficult to know exactly. Again the lack of a system and consistent process was apparent.

Our few days working with the nurses brought a new light to the potential future of the sterilisation service in the hospital for them. The people became excited with the new knowledge they gained into improving their everyday work life and service to patients. By the end of the week, a potential new CSSD dept to cater for all departments within the hospital was looking more positive. A new piece of equipment to aid in their service was approved along with supplies to ensure a more consistent process and sterility of instruments.

To be part of such a small piece of a much larger picture was very fulfilling and I know we made a difference to their lives and their work in such a short space of time. As quoted during our time with them ‘knowledge is power’ and for these people they received the power to now go and make a difference within their own departments. Getting to know the people and understanding their culture over the few days was a very rewarding experience and post revolution, there is an overwhelming good feel factor filled with enthusiasm and hope which made me feel I was part of the history books with them. They were the most fantastic people to work with, I thank them and my colleague for a lifetime experience that I hope would be repeated in the future.

SSE (Specialised Sterile Environments) and SQT had their second successful gathering of the Cleanroom Technology Network Group on Sept 17th in the Radisson Hotel, Athlone with over 55 attendees from companies all over Ireland. The idea behind the network is to create an informal forum where people working within cleanroom environments can come together to discuss topics and areas of similar interest, share experiences and generally learn from each other to create a support network that will benefit all, in these challenging times.

Many different industries were represented including; medical device, pharmaceutical, hospitals, orthopaedics, cleanroom supporting industries and services such as packaging, garment apparel and laundry, design and validation, facility management, cleaning, laboratory testing, training and auditing.

In other words just about everything you would need to build and maintain your cleanroom to the highest standard possible.

Presentations were given on a number of different topics including; challenges faced during the initial set up of a cleanroom, cleanroom certification and classification preparation, audit findings and preventive action in relation to contamination control, cleanroom energy and cost management and environmental monitoring.

We look forward to our Christmas meeting on Dec 3rd where the following topics will be included; Cleanroom Design, Cleanroom Apparel and Rotation of Chemicals within Cleanrooms. As well though it will be a chance to network with many new people in an informal, relaxed atmosphere.

Over a cup of coffee a few months back with Kevina O’Donoghue, our tutor on “Contamination Control”, the idea of starting up a Cleanroom Network was raised (nothing like caffeine to trigger the creative buds).
We spent the next few weeks talking to companies with Cleanrooms and to people who work in Cleanrooms, to see if there was any interest in getting together on a quarterly basis to discuss and share “all things relevant to Cleanrooms”. The response was fantastic and so we bravely booked a room for the 30th June in the Radisson hotel Athlone for 25 people. This was then changed to 35, then 40, then 46, then 55 and so much to our delight our first network meeting kicked off with 58 people in attendance, coming from Pharmaceutical and Medical device companies (both large and small), hospitals, test labs and cleanroom supply companies.
The audience was wide and varied but all had cleanrooms in common.

As it was our first meeting we had an agenda set to get the ball rolling so this included a presentation by Adrian Fuery, MD of Zimmer on the “Challenges faced during the initial set-up of a cleanroom”, followed by Johnny Curran from Cleanzone Technology who spoke about “Cleanroom classification and certification preparation”.
After lunch and some essential networking, Kevina spoke for an hour on “Audit findings and preventative action in relation to contamination control” and this sparked some very interesting discussions and many different points of view. For example “is a wedding ring considered a piece of jewellery in a cleanroom?” and “should false tan be allowed in a cleanroom environment?”. For a group that had only come together for the first time, the interaction and willingness to participate in discussions and share information was fantastic.

We spent the last hour chatting in groups, identifying the priority topics people wanted covered in the next and subsequent network meetings and much to my surprise, even managed to get nine willing volunteers to lead the discussions at our 2nd Cleanroom Network meeting on 17th September.

Overall it was a great day and a great success and proves there’s a lot to be said for drinking coffee!!!