Strategies for Infection Prevention
The goal of the Infection Prevention and Control Program is to prevent infections from occurring in patients, visitors, physicians and employees. The following strategies have been implemented to achieved our goals and objectives based on evidence-based national guidelines from relevant organizations (CDC). 1. Standards Precautions 2. Hand Hygiene 3. Transmission-Based Precautions
4. Disinfection and Sterilization of reusable medical equipment
5. Implementation and Monitoring of best practices for device associated infections
6. Tracking and trending of multiple drug resistance organism (Antimicrobial Stewardship Program)
7. Employee Health Program
8. Education (Ongoing education and training staff is a requirement)
9. Infection Control Risk Assessment
Standard Precautions: represent the minimum infection measures that apply to all patient care, regardless of suspected or confirmed infection status of the patient in any setting where healthcare is delivered. Standard Precautions include:
Hand Hygiene
Use of Personal Protective Equipment (e.g., gloves, gowns, facemasks), depending on the anticipated exposure
Respiratory Hygiene and Cough Etiquette
Safe Injection Practices
Safe handling of potentially contaminated equipment
Cleanliness of the facility and patient environment
Hand Hygiene: Continues to be the most important practice for the Infection Control and Patient Safety Program.
Transmission-Bases Precautions: are intended to supplement Standard Precautions in patient with known or suspected colonization or infection of highly transmissible or epidemiologically important pathogens. For diseases that that have multiple routes of transmission, a combination of Transmission-Based Precautions may be used. Whether used singularly or in combination, they are used in addition to Standard Precautions. The categories of Transmission-Based Precautions include:
• Contact Precautions (Enteric-Contact Precautions)
• Droplet Precautions
• Airborne Precautions