Understand roles and responsibilities in the prevention and control of infections

The responsibilities of employees are to take safety measures to prevent and control the spread of infection in the workplace; this includes working safely to protect myself, other staff, visitors and individuals from infections. Employees would attend essential training that our employers offer so that we can work safely for everyone in the best way possible. Employees have a duty to have safe ways of working and put into practice such as effective hand washing, not coming to work ill for the reason that you can put other individuals at risk, not to wear jewellery when cooking or supporting service users in other activities because

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

1.1 Each employee's has a role and responsibility in the prevention and control of infection. they must conduct themselves in a healthy and appropriate manner applying good hygiene in everything they do, whether it be ensuring they wear personal protective equipment (PPE), good food hygiene, cleaning up after themselves or supporting an individual take medication.

1. Explain employees’ roles and responsibilities in relation to the prevention and control of infection.

P4: Identify key aspects of legislation and guidelines relevant to the prevention and control of infection in a health or social care setting. In a health and social care environment, it is quite important that everybody is following the legislations and guidelines that are relevant to the prevention control of infection in a health or social care setting. The legislations and guidelines include: Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, The Public Health Act 1984(Control of disease), The Food Safety Regulation (General Food Hygiene 1995), the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991 and COSHH 2002(Control of Substances Hazardous and Health).

This individual’s job is to lead prevention efforts within the facility, to protect residents, staff, and visitors from infection and communicable diseases. Also, his is in charge to implement infection prevention and control policy and procedures. The Infection Preventionist also performs investigations and surveillance, prevents and controls outbreaks, improves processes and outcomes by taking corrective actions and implementing hand hygiene to minimize contamination. Additionally, the Infection Preventionist decides what procedures to initiate when infections appear, such as isolating a

It is preventing or protecting anybody from infection, service users individuals, staff. Knowledge has to be given to everyone in workplace about infections and how it could be as simple as regular hand wash after dealing with people, using gloves and aprons regularly, making sure all equipment that needs sterilizing are sterilised promptly and the environment is sanitised and properly cleaned Control Control policies are measures put in place when incidents occur or when somebody is identified with infectious disease. It has to be documented. The manager takes necessary steps to what to do to stop or minimize the spread of the disease. 3.

Implementation of patient care practices for infection control is the role of the nursing staff. Nurses are responsible for maintaining hygiene, consistent with hospital policies and good nursing practice on the ward and monitoring aseptic techniques, including hand-washing and use of isolation. It is also in their scope of practice to promptly report to the attending physician any evidence of infection in patients under the nurse’s care and initiating patient isolation and ordering culture specimens from any patient showing signs of a communicable disease, when the physician is not immediately available. Limiting patient exposure to infections from visitors, hospital staff, other patients, or equipment used for diagnosis or treatment and maintaining

As a leader in health care, it is important that employees have the proper education and training for compliance with infection control. An infection control practitioner should be assigned surveillance of infections, calculate infection rates, and report these numbers to the appropriate personnel. Clinical nurses, such as nurses, should have periodic evaluations to ensure they are practicing patient safety. There are many other key factors that should be implemented in health care facilities to improve infection control. First is hand hygiene; there could be random observers periodically monitoring a certain floor or department for hand sanitation practices. Secondly, is the health care environment. This includes, making sure employees are sanitizing surfaces and equipment, educating visitors and families on infection control measures, and properly using personal protective equipment. Improper use, wear, and removal of personal protective equipment can cause serious health consequences to the worker and the patients, which means employees need be continuously trained and educated on this equipment.

Within all aspects of life there are risks to be taken, my role is to deliver personcentred planning around the residents individual needs, wishes, beliefs and choices. In regard to infection prevention and control residents individual activities of choice may need to be risk assessed in order to protect them and employees from any biological risks posed. There are current regulations and legislation relating to PPE which are PPE a Work Regulations 2002, the management of Health and Safety and Work Regulations 1999 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002

A campaign called, “Clean Hands Save Lives” endorsed by the CDC in the year 2015 put an emphasis on five simple steps to avoid or reduce illnesses. The steps are the following and to be carried out in that order: wet, lather, scrub, rinse, and dry (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, pg. 458). In addition to performing hand hygiene, gloves must also be used when handling any type of specimen. The use of PPE or Personal protective equipment is important as it protects the wearer from any type of injury or infection. (PPE) Healthcare facilities disclose the type of contact precaution outside a patient’s door. For example, a label for Airborne Precautions indicate that a respiratory protection device (N95 respirator) must be worn in order to enter the room and while interacting with the patient. A room with Droplet Precautions requires the use of a mask or respirator. On the other hand, a room with Contact Precautions indicates the use of gloves and gowns, and a room with category Protective Environment requires protection with HEPA filtration, mask, gloves, and gowns (Potter et al., pg 459).

Infection control and prevention extends beyond treating the patient. It encompasses all who work and visit the facility including medical staff, administrative staff, volunteers, vendors, and

In this report I will discuss the policy and procedures at a nursing home. I will be specifically looking at infection control during the course of a medication round.

• Be aware of the infection control policies and procedures that are used in your workplace.

Research shows that Surgical site infections are preventable. According to the CDC, hand hygiene is the simplest approach to preventing the spread of infections and needs to be incorporated into the culture of the organization. Ensuring the use of infection control prevention is an important component of nursing care. Infection control prevention policies must be communicated undoubtedly to all employees. Staffers who do not comply must be re-educated to ensure that all are complying. Speaking up and pointing out that a nurse forgot to wash his or her hands, or notifying the surgical team that surgical instruments were not adequately cleaned may seem like small issues; but at the same time, not acknowledging a break in a sterile technique could mean the difference between life and death for a patient. One hospital that was struggling with high levels of infection related to surgical procedures, implemented a pre-procedure huddle as a team. This innovate way decreased the spread of infection and was a great way to improve the quality of care for patients. As mandated by the Joint commission, infection prevention personnel should provide multidisciplinary education on SSI prevention, to all team members, including