Busan is good

Busan City Signs MOU to Launch Korea’s First “Busan-style Infection Control Education System”

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Human Resources Development Institute for Health and Welfare on July 31 to establish a regionally customized “Busan-style Infection Control Education System” for high-risk facilities, marking a national first.

High-risk facilities such as nursing hospitals, care homes, and psychiatric hospitals experienced significant impacts during outbreaks like COVID-19. Calls have steadily grown for systematic and professional training for staff in these facilities. However, infection control training infrastructure remains severely lacking nationwide.

To address this, the City of Busan has taken the lead in developing a practical training framework that can be immediately applied in the field. This system aims to protect vulnerable populations and enhance safety in care environments.

Under the MOU, the two organizations will collaborate to build and operate an infection control education system focused on field-based learning at high-risk facilities.

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Key Roles of Each Party:

• ●Busan City will provide policy support and necessary information for training and operations.

• ●KHRDI will connect infrastructure including educational content, personnel, and facilities, and work to expand preventive education and strengthen expertise through mutual collaboration.

The education will be operated via KHRDI’s Busan Education Center as a public outsourcing project.
Target participants include:

• ●Infection control managers at high-risk facilities

• ●Public health center staff in each district

• ●On-site advisory committee members

• ●Other practical-level personnel

Training programs are tailored by type of institution (medical, non-medical, administrative) and conducted in basic and advanced levels, focusing on practical application.

Programs include:

• ●Problem-solving training based on real infection cases

• ●Scenario-based simulations

• ●Hands-on emergency response drills

These enhance practical effectiveness and real-world applicability.

Distinctive features of this training include:

• ●Small group sessions (approximately 35 participants) for greater focus and effectiveness

• ●Nationwide expert instructors to ensure quality

• ●Hands-on simulation training, departing from conventional lectures

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The “Busan-style model” reflects regional characteristics and needs, aiming to equalize infection control competence among facility staff. It will help build a sustainable and systematic response network for managing infectious diseases in care and medical settings.

Busan will continue to strengthen the program’s content and seek policy expansion strategies to establish it as a national model for field-based infection control training.

Furthermore, by linking this training with existing field consulting services, the City will develop a talent pool of field advisory members, thereby enhancing response capacity for future infectious disease outbreaks.

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The training includes a Field Advisory Member Certification Course, aimed at fostering personnel capable of immediate response in public health crises.

These certified advisors, with both qualifications and field experience, will conduct infection prevention assessments and provide improvement recommendations at high-risk facilities.

Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs Lee Jun-seung stated:

“This training system will serve as a sustainable regional infrastructure to secure care and medical environments vulnerable to infection, laying the foundation for ‘Busan 365,’ a safe city from infectious diseases.
We will further develop this model into a national best practice and expand it step-by-step.”

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Appendices (Summarized for clarity; full translation available upon request):

• 1.Photos: Related images available

• 2.MOU Signing Ceremony Summary: Held on July 31 at 2:00 PM

• ○Key schedule: Opening, remarks, MOU signing, commemorative photo

• 3.MOU Text: Official agreement between Busan City and KHRDI

• 4.Project Overview:

• ○Pilot phase since 2024 with excellent participation and satisfaction rates

• ○Full implementation from August to December 2025

• ○Training held at KHRDI Busan Center

• ○13 sessions, 403 participants planned for 2025

• 5.On-site Consulting Program Overview:

• ○Began in 2024; outstanding consulting institutions awarded

• ○Linked with training to create a talent pool of field advisors for emergency response