Sterile Processing Education Christina Fast, Founder of SPECTrust,

IAHCSMM Instructor

One MDRT’s mission to reduce surgically related infections in developing nations.

In the Fall of 2011• Christina Fast volunteered with Mercy Ships (the worlds largest

non-profit floating hospital) as an OR Sterilizer in Sierra Leone. In her evenings she began teaching the IAHCSMM course to 6 other volunteers from 4 different nations. Of those 6, one was a local nurse at a nearby woman's and children's hospital in Freetown.

• During a visit to this hospital, Christina was left speechless at how little the staff had to work with. Autoclaves were non-functional and used for storage while instruments were left to soak in bleach water that was changed once a week. Brushes and PPE were unavailable. Sharps were being reused.

• When talking with the matron Christina was told that post operative infection rates were as high as 90%. Christina didn’t know what to do, but she knew she had to do something. ‘Sterile’ instruments have caked dry

blood due to lack of cleaning tools.

Limited cleaning tools.

One bucket of chlorine and water which is only changed weekly.

In the Fall of 2012

• Christina returned to West Africa, this time to Guinea. Here she found the hospital conditions to be similar, if not worse, then those in Sierra Leone.

• She began working with staff in the department, helping them to remove 30 years of grime from the surfaces and walls. As they cleaned, Christina educated them on the importance of their roll in the hospital and worked with them to improve their practices with the resources available.

• Before returning to Canada, she left them with 3 goals: 1. Discard the garbage 2. Keep instruments off the floor 3. Clean the department once a day.

5 months later

• Christina returned once again to Guinea. She revisited the hospitals she had worked with to see whether the practical training she had provided had been maintained during her absence.

• To her joy, she discovered the department in the same condition she had left it in.

• The staff felt a new sense of pride in keeping their department clean, having gained a theoretical understanding of the importance of cleanliness in preventing infections.

• Christina’s dream of providing education and support related to infection prevention and sterile processing practices evolved until it was formalized into an NGO in 2013.

• Christina’s goal is:– To provide education and resources to health

care workers in low and middle income countries that support them to maintain safe sterile practices within their medical community.

– To document a significant decrease in the risks of surgical infections related to unsterile medical devices in low and middle income countries.

• In 2014, after developing a basic sterilization course and materials, Christina held the first known Sterile Processing class in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo.

• 27 staff members from 4 hospitals attended. • Along with these classes she worked with the participants in their

hospitals to apply the theoretical knowledge in their work places.• Following the training participant representatives met with their

hospital directors, who committed to supporting them to meet three achievable goals over the next 6 months.

"We were ignorant before we came to the training, there were many things we didn't know because we didn't have a book or training. We have to make changes so that we can do our job properly. This new information - It's like giving someone who didn't eat for a month some bread and water. Nourishment for growth.”- PANDZOU Edouard, Congo

“If we had received training like this years ago when the hospital was established, we would have a very different department today. It is good that we are receiving this training now.”- Mr IBINDA Jean, Congo

Currently…• Christina continues to provide education and

mentoring related to infection prevention and sterile processing practices in Madagascar. In 2015/2016 she delivered training to 47 health care professionals in 41 clinics & hospitals around the country.

• Along with education, her organization has provided innovative sterilization methods and tools to 28 clinics around Madagascar.

• She’s seen first hand how education is valued and embraced in developing nations and the life saving changes that come from it.

• In 2017 she will return to West Africa to begin work in Benin.