Infection Control in Healthcare Settings

Introduction

• Importance of infection control in healthcare settings.
• Patients may be at risk of infection due to diseases or medical procedures.
• Infection control is a key safety initiative in nursing.

Reading and Module Objectives

• Refer to nursing skills and nursing fundamentals.
• Important terms and definitions from nursing fundamentals (9.4).
• Focus on terms like local vs. secondary vs. systemic, primary vs. opportunistic, acute vs. chronic.
• Practice and lab activities related to PPE.

Basics of Infections and Infectious Diseases

• Chain of Infection: How to interrupt it to prevent or control infections.
  • Infectious agent exists in a reservoir.
  • Modes of transmission: Airborne, contact, ingested.
  • Portals of entry and susceptible hosts.

Stages of Pathogenesis

• Exposure, adhesion, invasion, infection development.
• Understanding the periods of disease: Incubation, prodromal, etc.

Infection Control Strategies

• Patients in hospitals often have decreased resistance to disease.
• Maintaining a clean environment:
  • Sterilization of equipment.
  • Disinfection practices.
  • Standard precautions: Hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, PPE.
• Transmission Precautions:
  • Contact, droplet, and airborne precautions.
  • Use of specialized PPE depending on the transmission type.
  • Reverse isolation for protecting immunocompromised patients.

Hand Hygiene

• Five moments of hand hygiene.
• Importance of washing hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand cleansers.

Respiratory Hygiene

• Covering mouth when coughing.
• Use of masks to protect patients.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Practice of donning and doffing PPE.
• Use of gloves, gowns, masks, face shields, and goggles.

Sterile Technique

• Key concepts of maintaining sterility.
• When sterility is questioned, assume it’s compromised.

Conclusion

• Infection control is critical in clinical settings.
• These practices become part of everyday nursing practice in clinical settings.