Sources
[PDF] Guide to Infection Control In Clinic Setting
www.chp.gov.hk
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1
[PDF] Guidelines on Infection Control Practice in the Clinic Settings of ...
www.chp.gov.hk
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2
CDC's Core Infection Prevention and Control Practices for Safe ...
www.cdc.gov
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3
Infection Control for Healthcare Providers - CDC
www.cdc.gov
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4
Answer
Here are the best practices for infection control in healthcare settings:
Standard Precautions
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Use Standard Precautions to care for all patients in all settings, which include3:
- Hand hygiene
- Environmental cleaning and disinfection
- Injection and medication safety
- Risk assessment with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) based on activities
- Minimizing potential exposures (e.g. respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette)
- Reprocessing of reusable medical equipment between each patient or when soiled
Hand Hygiene
- Perform hand hygiene frequently, especially before and after patient contact, after contact with blood or body fluids, after handling contaminated items, and after removing gloves13
- Use WHO's "My 5 moments for Hand Hygiene" approach1
- Use proper hand hygiene technique as outlined in Appendix 41
Respiratory Hygiene/Cough Etiquette
- Educate healthcare staff, patients, and visitors on the importance of containing respiratory secretions2
- Post visual alerts to remind patients to report respiratory symptoms and cover coughs2
- Offer surgical masks to persons with respiratory symptoms, especially during epidemics2
- Instruct symptomatic persons to sit away from others in designated waiting areas2
Patient Triage and Placement
- Identify potentially infectious individuals through triage policies and visual alerts2
- Implement Transmission-Based Precautions in addition to Standard Precautions for patients with known or suspected infectious agents12
- Ensure appropriate patient placement, such as single-patient rooms or designated areas2
Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection
- Clean and disinfect patient care areas and equipment regularly using EPA-registered disinfectants3
- Follow Spaulding's classification and use appropriate disinfection methods for different medical equipment1
Education and Training
- Provide education and training to healthcare personnel on infection prevention practices3
- Tailor training to the diversity of the workforce, type of facility, and needs of each category of personnel3
Leadership Support
- Require visible and tangible support from all levels of leadership for infection prevention programs to be successful3
Performance Monitoring and Feedback
- Monitor performance of infection prevention practices and provide regular feedback3
- Tailor measures to the care activities and population served3
References
1. [PDF] Guide to Infection Control In Clinic Setting2. [PDF] Guidelines on Infection Control Practice in the Clinic Settings of ...3. CDC's Core Infection Prevention and Control Practices for Safe ...4. Infection Control for Healthcare Providers - CDC5. Best Practices in IPAC | Public Health Ontario
Author: HIQA
Key insights
- 🦠 Healthcare associated infections can have a huge impact on people, causing anxiety, upset, serious illness, disability, and even death.
- Antimicrobial stewardship is crucial in ensuring that people receive the right antibiotics for the right infection type at the right time and for the correct duration.
- 🦠 Both staff and people using community care services have a role to play in preventing and controlling infections.
- 🧼 Clean hands and proper hygiene are crucial in preventing infection in community services.
Video Full Text
- Preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections continues to be a significant challenge to health and social care services throughout the world, including here in Ireland. A healthcare associated infection is any infection which is contracted as a direct result of treatment in or contact with a health or social care setting. They can have a huge impact on people causing anxiety, upset, serious illness, disability and even death. Many of these infections are avoidable if simple measures are taken to address risks that can have the potential to cause such infections. These measures include good hand hygiene, training staff in infection prevention and control, ensuring all equipment and the environment is clean. Many common infections are becoming more difficult to treat as they are resistant to antimicrobial medication. Including commonly used antibiotics, this is in part due to overuse and misuse of antibiotics. It is very important.Read More
- People only take antibiotics when they are needed and as prescribed. It is also important that people receive the right antibiotics for the right infection type at the right time and for the correct duration. This is called antimicrobial stewardship. For the first time the Health Information and Quality Authority has developed specific national standards for community health and social care services in Ireland which cover infection prevention and control and antimicrobial stewardship.Read More
- Community care services are a broad range of services that are provided outside of the hospital setting including primary care, social care, mental health and health and well-being services. Examples include residential care, home care, general practice clinics, dental clinics, pharmacies, ambulance services and so on. The standards emphasize that everyone, both staff and people using services have a role to play in preventing and controlling infections.Read More
- We can all take measures to protect ourselves and others from infection. These include: clean your hands and ask staff. If they have done the same, if you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, dispose of the tissue and then wash your. Hands are used in alcohol hand rub gel, Only use antibiotics as prescribed, and ensure you get all necessary vaccinations. The national standards for infection prevention and patrol in community services are available on our website. Www.hiqa.ie.Read More