Infection Control

At the hospitals that I have worked their policies for infection control is that we are to prevent the spread/transmission of infections to other patients, staff, and the hospital environment. To accomplish this it is sometimes necessary to place patients in isolation precautions. Isolation precautions could indicate that we have to isolate the patient and move them to a private room this is normally always done. There are occasions where the infected patient is in with another patient, and to make sure that there is no further spread of contamination we isolate the patients together. When a patient is isolated we use signs at there door entrance indication what type of precaution is needed and what equipment is to be used. Before and after entering and exiting a room you need to wash your hands. Washing your hands is the best practice to help prevent the transmission of infectious disease.

There are 3 different types of Isolation Precautions:

1. Contact Isolation- gloves, gown- transmitted by touch
2. Airborne Isolation- gloves, gown, goggles, mask - transmitted in the air
3. Droplet Isolation- gloves, gown, goggles, mask - transmitted in the air if within 3 feet of patient and contact

The more common bugs that we isolate patients for in the hospitals are Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE), clostridium difficile (C-DIFF). We screen every patient that walks in the door for MRSA and VRE by doing swabs to all open areas on the skin, their nairs, and their rectum. C-Diff is screened by sending a sample of the patients stool to the lab, you would only test a patient if they were having loose watery stools. Infection control has stepped up their qualifications for isolation because of the SARS outbreak, it is always better to be safe then sorry!

For more information please visit:

Ross Memorial Hospital http://www.rmh.org/content/view/393/280/
Peterborough Hospital http://www.prhc.on.ca/Site%20Map/Patient%20and%20Visitor%20Info.aspx