Attend the Thursday, June 16 webinar, Effective Training Strategies in Animal Biosafety. Training someone to do animal procedures in biocontainment has an important objective of safeguarding human safety while preserving animal welfare. Researchers and technicians who are new working in biocontainment should already be proficient in these procedures in routine conditions, so they need to learn how to adapt their work in the biocontainment setting. The key is to start with a visual of an actual procedure they are conducting. It is critical to do so before listing the "rules." Engage the trainees in thinking through their work practices step-by-step, so safety issues are connected to the actual procedure. Images and live demonstrations convey messages across the language barriers that exist in both the research community and the animal facility staff. As you work with an individual, incorporate points about zoonosis; chemical safety; microbiological and physical hazards (including allergies); use of human tissue in immunocompromised animals; and personal hygiene, including special heath conditions. Of course, training is just the beginning to change behavior; reinforcement of safety practices is also required.
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Learning Objectives:
- Describe how to best motivate trainees to think through the hazards related to their animal procedures.
- Plan the steps to adapt a trainee's work to a biocontainment setting.
- Integrate information about relevant hazards in procedures training.
- Apply training that mitigates the risks for laboratory-acquired infection.
- Foster a safety culture that leads to the implementation of the methods learned in training.
Presenter: Karen Byers, MS, RBP, CBSP, is a biosafety officer at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, an NCI-designated Cancer Center and a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. She received her master’s degree in microbiology from the University of Maine. Ms. Byers is Co-editor in Chief of Applied Biosafety, the journal of the American Biological Safety Association International, and is also Co-editor of Biological Safety, Principles and Practices, 5th edition, ASM Press. Ms. Byers is a past-president of ABSA and, in 2001, she was awarded ABSA’s Everett Hanel, Jr. Presidential Award, which honors those who promote the field of biological safety and foster, by example, the high professional standards of the Association's membership. Ms. Byers has over 26 years’ experience in training staff to adapt their animal procedures to the biocontainment setting.
Audience: Technicians, veterinarians, and managers who are involved with a biocontainment animal facility.
RACE Continuing Education (CE) Units: This program has been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE approval. Participants should be aware what some boards have limitations on the number of hours accepted in certain categories and/or restrictions on certain methods of delivery of continuing education. Provided by AALAS, RACE Provider Number 37.
AALAS CEUs: You can apply for up to 1.5 CEUs for the Technician Certification Registry or CMAR recertification. Please use the forms on the AALAS website or online CEU submission.
Following the webinar, certificate templates (RACE and AALAS) will be sent to the individuals who registered on behalf of their institution. The registrant will have the responsibility to distribute certificates to the webinar participants at their institution.
