Infection control – delivering the message in the 21(st) century

The experiences gleaned from new and suddenly emergent infectious diseases (e.g. SARS, avian influenza or diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile) have highlighted how important it is, also for infection prophylaxis, to be able to find instruments for rapid and effective communication. Since 1990 online (E) learning has been used to train nursing staff and offers the advantage of being able to study at an individual pace as well as cut down on the time and financial resources needed. It serves to overcome geographic distances in respect of the teaching institution, can be used at any time of day according to individual needs and has proved suitable for presenting learning modules in infection prevention. No doubt, traditional didactic learning continues to be the most important approach, but new technologies such as “problem based learning” (PBL) are becoming more popular, and allow students to acquire knowledge in concrete situations. Translating knowledge into behavior calls for an ability to convert scientific theoretic knowledge quickly, efficiently and clearly into practical behavior. Hence E learning is an ideal way to ensure that the latter requirements are met. While it is obvious that knowledge can be easily imparted by this method, further research is needed to establish whether and to what extent it is possible to use this method to translate the acquired knowledge into altered behavior too. Experts believe that novel media technologies hold out several new prospects for accomplishing this.