Infection Control and Standard Precautions
Break the chain
Infection needs a germ, a place to live, a way out, a way in, and a susceptible person. Break the chain with hand hygiene, the single most effective action you take.
Wash with soap and water when hands are visibly soiled, after using the toilet, before eating, and for C. difficile or norovirus, because alcohol does not kill those spores. Otherwise an alcohol-based rub is fine. Clean hands before and after every resident contact, after removing gloves, and after touching equipment.
Standard precautions
Treat all blood, body fluids, secretions, broken skin, and mucous membranes as potentially infectious - for every resident, every time. Wear gloves when you may touch blood or body fluids, a gown if splashing is likely, and a mask with eye protection if sprays may occur.
Order to put on PPE: gown, mask, goggles, gloves. Order to remove: gloves, goggles, gown, mask - gloves first, mask last - then clean hands. Gloves never replace hand hygiene.
Transmission-based precautions: contact (MRSA, C. difficile, scabies) - gown, gloves, dedicated equipment; droplet (influenza, pertussis) - mask; airborne (TB, measles) - fit-tested N95 and a negative-pressure room.
Traps
- Wearing the same gloves from one resident to the next.
- Using alcohol rub after caring for a resident with C. difficile.
- Sharing a blood pressure cuff or stethoscope with a contact-precaution resident.
- Recapping a used needle instead of dropping it straight into the sharps container.
Rule of thumb
If you would not touch it with bare hands, wear gloves - and either way, clean your hands before you leave the room.