Infection Control Precautions

| UNIT 4222- 264 THE PRINCIPLES OF INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL | | | |

Good hand hygiene is the simplest, yet proven strategy to counteract hospital infection. However, the difficulties of achieving good levels of compliance are well noted in the literature. There are several seeming barriers to carry out adequate hand hygiene:

All areas that are being used for healthcare activities should be cleaned with either disinfectant wipes each morning and in between patients/procedures. Equipment should be all new out of the packets and clean. For things more major such as vasectomy’s, minor surgery or family planning clinics, areas should be cleaned everywhere with a disinfectant fluid and also with wipes, gloves should always be worn as well as other PPE such as aprons and hats. All equipment should be new from the packet and only touched by the person who is using

Nursing and healthcare continue to change on a daily basis. The one thing that has remained constant during these changes is maintaining the safety of our patients. By maintaining their safety, nurses must ensure that they are keeping up-to-date with the changes in technology now being introduced in healthcare, new and emerging diseases, new equipment, and changes in treatment modalities. One such responsibility is ensuring that nurses do not operate equipment they were not oriented to or trained to use in an effort to prevent injury patients. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are being held accountable for practicing within their scope of practice based on their licensure regulations, and the company policies and procedures. Therefore, nurses are responsible for their professional growth and practice by ensuring that they comply with the necessary standards required by their profession.

Nursing and healthcare continue to change on a daily basis. The one thing that has remained constant during these changes is maintaining the safety of our patients. By maintaining their safety, nurses must ensure that they are keeping up-to-date with the changes in technology now being introduced in healthcare, new and emerging diseases, new equipment, and changes in treatment modalities. One such responsibility is ensuring that nurses do not operate equipment they were not oriented to or trained to use in an effort to prevent injury patients. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are being held accountable for practicing within their scope of practice based on their licensure regulations, and the company policies and procedures. Therefore, nurses are responsible for their professional growth and practice by ensuring that they comply with the necessary standards required by their profession.

Hand washing and hand disinfection: more than your mother taught you. Anesthesiol Clin North America 22 (3): 457–71

Powered stretchers and stair chairs are an excellent way to move patients, but the added weight of the devices has caused other problems. When using powered transport tools, they must be married to a lifting system. Ramps and winches, powered lift gates, loading systems and no-lift cots are all necessities. We have to stop moving patients with a sheet drag. Responders cannot continue to poison their body with inflammatory foods, dehydrate themselves, consume high sugar and unnatural processed food products and expect to be in good health. The only way to really decrease injury is to have good mobility and flexibility, adequate job specific fitness and have access to the right

Healthcare associated infections have an impact on patients - how? Can be prevented greatly with compliance to hand hygiene protocols (REF).

Hand hygiene has been an issue that needed enhancement. In the United States (US), 1in every 25 patients admitted in the hospital turn out to be infected, making it a total of 722,000 infections each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2016). These infections can be critical and very unsusceptible to treatment. Proper hand hygiene can be used to inhibit the transmission of disease-causing agents. Healthcare workers (HCWs) should exercise proper hand hygiene to inhibit the circulation of germs to patients. Hand hygiene should be done prior to patient contact, following contact with blood, body fluids, or non-sanitized surfaces, prior to invasive procedures, following taking off gloves and patient 's contacts. In

Rates of musculoskeletal injuries from overexertion in healthcare occupations are among the highest of all United States (US) industries (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2016). According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2011, the rate of overexertion injuries averaged across all industries was 38 per 10,000 full-time workers (CDC, 2016). By comparison, for hospital workers, the overexertion injury rate was twice the average (76 per 10,000), and the rate for nursing home workers was over three times the average (132 per 10,000) (CDC, 2016).

Steeve & Mallison (1975) stated hand hygiene has often been singled out as the most important procedure in preventing infection. Guidelines from national and international infection prevention and control organizations acknowledged that hand washing is the single most important procedure for preventing infections (Ganner and Favero,1985).

|Sharps injuries risk factors for healthcare professionals occur in everyday patient care scenarios. In particular, nurses are at high risk |

Working in the health care field can be extremely rewarding, but it’s not without risk. Health care has one of the highest rates of workplace injuries of any industry. Law Office of Morrison, Webster & Carlton, workers' compensation attorneys with offices in Springfield and Joplin, MO, explain that, although these injuries are often not as dramatic and obvious as those suffered in other professions, they can be extremely serious, and result in long-term pain or even permanent disability.

Infection control within a healthcare facility is the prevention of the spread of many microorganisms from patient to patient, patient to a member of staff and also from the staff member to the patient that are in there care. The World Health Organisation have defined healthcare associated infections as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other healthcare facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. Every healthcare facility from hospitals to general practitioners office should have a designated member of staff or a team of people who ensure that the infection control procedures are abided by and adhered to at all times in order to protect both staff and patients. More than 300,000 people each year are affected by a healthcare associated infection and the cost of treatment for these patients is over £3,000 and there is also the cost of treatment after discharge.

This assignment will encompass how the results of the personal hygiene and susceptibility microbiology experiments provide a framework for the basis of the NICE Clinical Guidance (CG139) on Infection and how crucial the reasons for the hand wash protocol and hygiene is in all healthcare settings.