It is my pleasure and delight to welcome you to the NiCaDe-IPC PALS webpage. The Participatory Approach to Learning in Systems (PALS) is an innovative training and practice approach to improving infection prevention and control (IPC). It is the result of years of collaboration between the NCDC and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Germany, bringing together the international and interdisciplinary collaboration with educational, epidemiological and public health experts. It adds a social, systemic and organizational lens to the technical and fact-based understanding of IPC practice.

The approach is built on the concepts of participation, the systemic view and teamwork. It focuses on the local conditions in the health facility and leverages the experiences and expertise of local players, encouraging the active participation and support of facility management as key drivers of effective IPC implementation.

PALS fosters interprofessional and inter-cadre cooperation among health workers, encourages active support of IPC by health facility management and promotes the development of individual and organizational values, change processes, and attitudes. Because PALS views decision making  as part of the organizational development process and social negotiation in a system, its principles can be applied to settings other than the healthcare facility to address and resolve systemic challenges.

I am excited that we are integrating this approach into the national IPC programme. As PALS experts love to say, PALS can only be experienced, it cannot be taught. This webpage provides a platform to start experiencing aspects of PALS.