Infection preventionist, infection control practitioner, infection control coordinator, infection control nurse, nurse epidemiologist, and infection control officer are some of the titles given to the person responsible for the infection control program at healthcare facilities. Infection control professionals typically have a background in nursing, medical...
Regardless of the setting (dental, ambulatory medical practice, ambulatory surgery, hospital, or long-term care) healthcare personnel go to work every day with the intention of taking excellent care of patients. No one anticipates giving a patient more than what they came for – like a...
Although the CDC Guidelines for Isolation Precautions were published in 2007, many questions remain in clinician’s minds when trying to determine if a patient should be placed into precautions. To add to the confusion, not all hospitals or ambulatory surgery centers place a patient...
Sterilization, high-level disinfection, low-level disinfection – how do I know what to do? How do you know if the reusable instrument or probe in your practice area requires high-level disinfection, sterilization or if wiping with a disposable disinfectant wipe is adequate? How can you ensure ultrasound...
Point of care (POC) or waived testing is an everyday occurrence in all healthcare settings but it doesn’t come without risk to patients. Did you know that from 2008 -2015 more than 100,000 patients were notified of a potential exposure to viral hepatitis after receiving...
The citations were related to cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization of medical equipment (e.g. instruments, flexible endoscopes, and ultrasound probes). To avoid a citation, standardize cleaning, disinfection and sterilization processes, including point of use cleaning in all areas performing high-level disinfection or sterilization throughout the facility. If...
Statistics reveal that one of every twenty hospital patients will contract some form of healthcare-associated infection, whether it is caused by the use of contaminated equipment, indirectly from the hands of healthcare personnel, or by the simple act of touching the mouth or nose after...
Keeping health clinic patients and staff safe from unnecessary infection requires dedicated attention to precautionary practices. Infection control precautions are designed to reduce the risk that an infection will travel from an infected person to an uninfected person. Because people with infections are frequent healthcare...
Managing infectious diseases requires knowledge of not just the realities of existing infectious agents, but also the circumstances that permit them to spread or mutate into different, potentially more lethal pathogens. The World Health Organization (WHO) establishes infection control guidelines that give practitioners around the...
Unlike most professions where graduation with a degree is often the end of the formal education process, staying up to date on current practices means that infection control training never really ends. Nurses and other medical specialists who elect to become Infection Control professionals must...