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Infection prevention and control in nursing primarily protect patients and healthcare workers.
FREMONT, CA: The primary objective of infection prevention and control in nursing is to protect patients and healthcare workers from disease transmission. A hospital without effective infection control would be unsafe to visit, creating huge healthcare problems across society.
Standard precautions are a cluster of infection control measures used to prevent spreading diseases that can be contracted through contact with blood, body fluids, broken skin (including rashes), and mucous membranes. These measures are to be used when caring for all patients, regardless of whether they appear infectious or symptomatic.
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In all healthcare settings, standard precautions apply regardless of whether a patient has a suspected or confirmed infection. These procedures are designed to protect both healthcare professionals and patients from infection transmission.
There are numerous standard infection control measures that hospitals should implement as part of their protocols; some of them are:
Hand hygiene
Hand hygiene includes washing with plain or anti-bacterial soap and water and using alcohol gel to decontaminate hands. When hands are not visibly soiled, the preferred method for hand hygiene when providing health care to clients is alcohol gel.
Hygiene should be performed before and after contact with a client, after touching blood, body fluids, non-intact skin, mucous membranes, or contaminated items (even when gloves are worn during contact), after removing gloves, and when transitioning from contaminated to clean body sites during client care, before eating, after using the restroom, and after coupling.
Cleaning and disinfection
Client care areas, shared waiting rooms, and other places where clients and staff frequently touch surfaces or objects that could be contaminated (doorknobs, sinks, toilets, and other surfaces and objects close to clients) should be cleaned regularly with EPA-registered disinfectants by using the right amount, dilution, and contact time as specified by the manufacturer.
It is unnecessary to disinfect surfaces such as floors and walls unless they are visibly soiled with blood or bodily fluids. They may be cleaned routinely with a detergent-only product or a detergent-and-disinfectant product.
Dirt and organic matter make most disinfectants ineffective, so cleaning must precede disinfection. Wipe away dirt and organic matter with a disinfectant-saturated cloth, then use a clean cloth to apply the disinfectant to the item and allow it to air-dry according to the manufacturer's instructions.
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