Project Firstline brings flex, easy-access COVID-19 training to the health care front-lines

Project Firstline brings flex, easy-access COVID-19 training to the health care front-lines 

American Hospital Association is proud to partner with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reach and engage all health care personnel with this vital online curriculum

CHICAGO (October 28, 2020) — In a time when health care personnel are working tirelessly on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19, bringing them quick and easy access to critical infection prevention and control training is essential.

Project Firstline, a national training collaborative between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and some of the nation’s leading health care organizations, including the American Hospital Association (AHA), is designed to help health care workers increase their capacity to respond rapidly and efficiently to the threat of COVID-19, while also protecting their own health. The series of free, online courses uniquely supports a culture of infection control in health care communities everywhere. It focuses not only on the what, but also on the why, which is the only way to achieve better performance and deploy sustainable infection control practices.

“The more we can educate health care workers on not just what to do, but why, the more likely they will do the right thing every time,” said Marie Cleary-Fishman, AHA’s vice president, clinical quality, and a strategic contributor to the initiative. “When we help staff understand the 'why' behind a process, we see better compliance with policies and procedures.”

Customized to meet the needs of health care workers representing a wide range of roles - from acute and long-term care to environmental services to administration - the training materials include 11 video-based training modules that explain not just the recommended infection control practices, but the science and reasoning behind them. AHA will complement the training modules with a series of thought leadership editorials, webinars, case studies and more. This work will be led by the AHA Center for Health Innovation.

Additional program partners include the American Nurses Association, National Association of County and City Health Offices and the American Academy of Pediatrics, to name of few.

“Health care workers play a crucial role in our nation’s response to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases,” said CDC Deputy Director for Infectious Disease Jay Butler, MD. “It is critical that every health care worker in the United States has the training, information, and resources they need to protect themselves, their patients, colleagues, families, and communities from infections, and Project Firstline is designed to meet that need. Whether a health care worker’s role is in environmental services or in the operating room, infection control is a team effort, and Project Firstline was developed for them.”

"We are incredibly grateful to have built Project Firstline, CDC’s new infection control training initiative, alongside a coalition of more than a dozen academic and professional partners and 64 state, local and territorial health departments. With their help, we have garnered insight into the needs of busy U.S. frontline health care workers, and designed Project Firstline’s training and tools to be an engaging way to access infection control knowledge.” said, Mike Bell, MD, deputy director, CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. “We are proud to be releasing Project Firstline to protect our health care workforce on the frontlines of COVID-19 and ensure they are prepared with the infection control training they need to safely provide essential care for our patients.”

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Contact:      Kathy Cummings, (312) 422-2623, kcummings@aha.org
                     Colin Milligan, (202) 638-5491, cmilligan@aha.org

About the American Hospital Association
The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides insight and education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.

About AHA Center for Health Innovation
The AHA Center for Health Innovation, created by the American Hospital Association, enhances hospital and health system transformation and accelerates innovation at scale. The Center was formed in September 2019 from the merger of AHA’s Health Forum, Health Research & Educational Trust, Data Center and The Value Initiative. The Center serves as a key partner to AHA members, supporting their innovation and transformation journey with new tools, data products and analytics, learning collaboratives, conferences and virtual expeditions, market intelligence and advisory services.