Infection Control

Presented on behalf of the

Infection Control Department, Gold Cost District Health Service

January 2012

Standard precautions• Hand hygiene and hand care• Personal protective equipment to avoid contact with

patient’s body fluids and non intact skin;• Respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette;• Prevention of injury from needles and other sharp

objects;• Cleaning of patient care equipment• Environmental cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation• Linen and waste management• Staff health

Hand Hygiene• If your hands are clean you will have less chance of

transferring infection from your hands to:– any patients or colleagues you come in contact with;– other parts of your body; and/or– any surfaces or equipment you touch.

• There are 5 specific moments for hand hygiene; • Across the District we have recognised a unique

opportunity to improve our compliance with hand hygiene by at least 30%; and

• To help you perform hand hygiene we a range of solutions strategically placed throughout our hospitals.

What We Recommend• Routine hand hygiene: before and after patient

care activities, food handling and after touching any contaminated surface.

• Clinical hand hygiene: for non-surgical procedures that require aseptic technique

• Gloves when contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials, mucous membranes, and non-intact skin could occur.

• Regular use of the provided moisturisers

When & How To Use alcohol Based Hand Rub

• Before and after direct contact with patients or their environment;

• After removing gloves;• Before putting on sterile gloves to

perform a non-surgical procedure• Apply product to palm of one hand

and rub hands together covering all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry

Antimicrobial soap for

general hand hygiene

Surgical Handwash for antimicrobial hand hygiene

Chlorhexidine/ alcohol based Handrub for rapid hand antisepsis if hands not

visibly soiled

Additional Precautions• Used for patients with infections spread by:

– Airborne transmission (eg tuberculosis, measles, chickenpox)• -ve pressure room & particulate respirator/mask;

– Droplet transmission (eg mumps, rubella, pertussis,influenza)• isolate/ separate by a metre, wear a medical/ surgical mask;

– Direct or indirect contact with dry skin (eg. colonisation with MRSA) or contaminated surfaces

• gloves and gown

– Any combination of these routes.

Safe Sharps Handling and Disposal• Always use safety devices when

they are available• The user is responsible for

disposal• Use appropriate sharps

containers not linen• Discard used sharps immediately• Do not pass sharps by hand

between HCWs• Avoid recapping needles• Do not force sharps into

container• Do not over-fill sharps containers

Body Fluid Exposure Management• Perform First Aid• Report the exposure and attend Emergency Department• Your exposure will be assessed according to

– its significance – how, when, where, what and who– your protection status– source status

• Testing for HIV, HCV, HBV will be offered and performed where appropriate and where you consent;

• If appropriate the treating doctor may request the source patient’s treating team obtain consent for source to also be tested;

• The Infection Control Department will write to you when your results are available; and

• Initial, and follow up, test results are available only via the staff clinic.

Staff Health

• HBV vaccination condition of employment• Immune status testing and vaccination for HBV,

MMRV available free of charge for staff• Staff performing exposure prone procedures must

test annually and following BFE for HIV, HCV, HBV and if positive MUST NOT perform exposure prone procedures

• Seek prompt diagnosis and treatment of personal illness (eg. Gastro: away for 48 hours)

More Information and Contact Details

Infection Control Department

M-F During Business Hours: Ph: 5519 8976

http://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/gldcoast/polproc/inf/TOC0601ep.htm