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Infection Control What is Infection Control? Healthcare organizations have Infection Control Programs which include policies and procedures for the surveillance, prevention, and control of infection. At Lake City Community Hospital, all of our patient care and patient care support departments and services are included in the Infection Control Program. Examples of infection control measures include hand washing, protective clothing, isolation precautions and procedures, appropriate food handling, to list just a few. The general purposes of Infection Control are the prevention of infections. When an infection is present, Infection Control also includes the prevention of the spread of the infection (or ‘germs’) among patients, from healthcare providers to patients and visitors, from patients to healthcare providers and visitors, and from visitors to patients and healthcare providers.
As a visitor, what can you do to help? The following are some health guidelines that you can take before visiting. Please help us protect the health of our patients, our other visitors and our healthcare providers.
Ø Runny nose Ø Fever (greater than 100.4°F) Ø Cough Ø Vomiting Ø Sore throat Ø Diarrhea Ø Sneezing Ø Draining wounds Ø Rashes
As a patient, what can you do? · Wash your hands carefully and expect your caregivers to do the same when working with you. Do not be afraid to remind them. · If you have an intravenous catheter (IV), urinary catheter, or dressing: Keep the skin around the IV catheter dry. If you have a wound dressing, it should be dry also; if it becomes loose or wet, contact your nurse. · Contact the nurse if any type of catheter or drainage tube becomes loose or dislodged. · Please be flexible and understanding if restrictions are placed on the number of visitors you may have; you may be asked to remain in your room with the door closed at all times if you have an infection that is transmitted (spread) through the air. · Participate in all decisions about your treatment. You are the center of the healthcare team. · If you have any questions or concerns related to Infection Control, please let you nurse know, and the nurse will contact the Infection Control Professional (ICP).
The South Carolina Hospital Association has additional, very specific recommendations for patients in a new publication titled “How to Avoid Infections While in the Hospital”. You can find it at: http://scha.org/documents/How_to_avoid_infections_formatted_2.pdf
Some general guidelines to help prevent infection:
Hand cleaning should be performed -- Ø Before and after using the bathroom Ø Before and after touching the patient Ø Immediately after accidental contact with blood, other body fluids, non-intact skin, or any potentially infectious source Ø After covering a cough or sneeze or wiping the nose
Hand washing with Soap and Water: Note: Adults should wash a child’s hands. 1. Wet hands and wrists with water. 2. Apply soap and work up a good lather for 15 seconds* 3. Scrub all areas of fingers, hands, and forearms 4. Dry hands with paper towels completely 5. Turn off faucet with a paper towel * The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention --the CDC – has a “Clean Hands Campaign” and recommends washing for 20 seconds. If you are not sure how to time 20 seconds while washing, they suggest that you imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a friend. If you would like to learn more about the “Clean Hands Campaign”, visit the web site at: http://www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
Waterless Hand Hygiene Product: Lake City Community Hospital and the affiliated physician practices also use an alcohol-based hand hygiene product for hand hygiene. In general, it is available in all patient care areas and patient rooms. As a visitor, you may use this product also. 1. Push down on top of spray dispenser, dispensing enough to wet the palm of one hand. 2. Rub hands together palm to palm. 3. Rub each thumb clasped in the opposite hand. 4. Rub between interlaced fingers. 5. Rub each wrist clasped in the opposite hand. 6. Rub back of each hand with the palm of the other hand. 7. Continue rubbing until hands are dry.
To help prevent the spread of serious respiratory illnesses like influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whooping cough, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the CDC recommends the following as part of their “Cover Your Cough” campaign: Ø Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Ø If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not your hands. Ø Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Ø Clean your hands after coughing or sneezing Ø Wash with soap and water or clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner. Note: You may be asked to put on a surgical mask to protect others.
You will see reminder signs like this: (click image to make it larger)
Additional Resources and Information: The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology web site at www.apic.org has numerous brochures available for viewing and downloading in pdf format. One example is Ten Tips for the Preventing the Spread of Infections, which can be found Here. The ten tips are: 1. Wash your hands frequently—especially before preparing food, before eating, and after using the restroom. Insist that your health care providers wash their hands and use gloves. 2. Don’t insist that your physician give you antibiotics if you don’t need them. Antibiotics have no effect on illnesses caused by viruses. 3. Take prescribed antibiotics exactly as instructed; do not stop taking them without checking with your physician, even if the medicine makes you feel better—or worse. 4. Keep your immunizations up to date. 5. Follow safe sexual practices. 6. Don’t send your child to a day care center or to a school with symptoms of an infection—such as vomiting, diarrhea, and/or fever. 7. Do not use I.V. drugs; if you do, do not share needles. 8. Don’t share personal items—such as razor blades, tooth brushes, combs, and hairbrushes—and don’t eat or drink from others’ plates or glasses. 9. Keep kitchen surfaces clean, especially when preparing meat, chicken, and fish; disinfect kitchen surfaces. 10. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, especially when they will be left out for a long time.
Other brochures available on the APIC web site include: Multiple Drug-Resistant Bacteria: Prevention and Control Pneumococcal Disease: Are you at risk?
The CDC’s web site is an excellent resource for information about many diseases and health problems, including recommendations for prevention and control. The site can be found at www.cdc.gov.
A few examples of what you can find on the CDC site: If you’re planning to take a trip, there’s a whole set of web pages called “Traveler’s Health” at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm.
Planning to take a cruise? Did you know that you can find out the score of a ship’s last inspection from the CDC’s “Vessel Sanitation Program” at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/cruiships.htm#cruise_travelers, as well as for air travel?
An easy cruise ship reference is the Green Sheet Report which is a summary of sanitation inspections of international cruise ships.
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