Training course provides route to AE (D)

Successful completion of which is a requirement for those wishing to join the Institute’s official Register of Authorising Engineers (Decontamination). Applications are invited from “personnel within the healthcare sector, and private industry”, and “from all other individuals that have an interest in sterilisation”. Healthcare Sciences, currently the only UK training provider to offer the ACIST course, is to run the next course from 5 December, 2011 until 22 March, 2012. Danielle Preston, Secretary to the AE Panels & Registers, explains: “Successful completion of this course, and the examination, provides prospective AE(D)s with one of the requirements for Registration as an IHEEM AE(D), as defined in HTM 01-01 part A clause 5.34, which states that such personnel should: a) “be qualified to graduate level in an appropriate discipline, with demonstrable experience in the subject of decontamination. Exceptionally, those personnel with extensive relevant experience and a lower level of qualification should also be considered; each case should be considered on its merits, especially during the transitional arrangements from the present system”; b) “be a member of an appropriate professional institute, with demonstrable experience in the subject of decontamination”; and (i) “have passed a course such as the revised ACIST (“Advanced Course In Sterilizer Training”) or an equivalent alternative”; or (ii) “be an existing AP(S) who has passed the qualifying examination for AP(S) and undertaken any necessary gap training within a period not exceeding three years from implementation of the recommendations within this document”, or (iii) “following a review, have met the requirement of the registration panel within a three-year period”. IHEEM says the wording in this part of the HTM “reflects the intention to enable applicants from a variety of industry-wide sterilisation-related disciplines to obtain registration as an IHEEM Registered AE(D)”. Danielle Preston adds: “The ACIST course is a combination of classroom and project work; each classroom week is separated by four weeks to minimise disruption to employers and attendees, and to provide time for private study and project work. Training will be undertaken by recognised experts in the field, chosen for their ability to teach and train. They represent a cross-section of the industry drawn from AE (D)s and specialist consultants. Trainees will be assessed by their course work, and by examination, with an exam held on each of the course’s final two days.” HTM 01-01: Decontamination of reusable medical devices – Part A: Management and environment, sets out the core duties and responsibilities and necessary qualifications for an AE (D). For further information on becoming an IHEEM Registered AE (D), or on the ACIST course, visit: www.iheem.org.uk/ Decontamination, or contact Danielle Preston. T: 02392 823186. Email: Danielle.Preston@iheem.org.uk