Overview of Infection Control
Infection control is a set of rules and practices that are put in place to lower the spread of infections in hospitals and other healthcare places. The main aim of these rules is to bring down the number of infections. The need for formal infection control was first realized in the early 1950s in the U.S. By the 1950s and 60s, a few hospitals began to understand healthcare-related infections and started using some infection control methods.
These infection control programs mainly aimed to keep an eye on these infections and use basic knowledge of disease spread to understand what causes these infections. However, most of these programs were managed by big educational centers instead of public health departments, which often led to varying levels of success and results that could have been better.
The new age in infection control began in the late 1900s and early 2000s due to three important events. These included a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine about mistakes in healthcare, a 2002 article in the Chicago Tribune about hospital-acquired infections, and the 2004/2006 reports about a significant drop in bloodstream infection rates by standardizing a specific process for inserting a central venous catheter.
This new period in healthcare is marked by consumers wanting more transparency and responsibility, a higher level of examination and regulation, and anticipation for quick reduction in infection rates. Nowadays, infection control’s main job is to prevent and lessen the risk of getting infections in hospitals. This can be accomplished by carrying out infection control programs that involve monitoring, isolating patients, managing outbreaks, keeping the environment clean, taking care of employee health, educating employees, and setting up policies to prevent infections.
Why do People Need Infection Control
An infection control program is designed to prevent and stop the spread of infections. Depending on the type of microorganism causing the infection, specific measures need to be taken to prevent its transmission.
Here are a few ways doctors and healthcare professionals prevent the spread of infections:
Standard precautions: These are basic steps taken for all patient care. They include washing hands regularly, using personal safety gear like gloves and masks, putting patients in appropriate rooms, keeping medical equipment clean, managing laundry and waste correctly, and safely getting rid of needles and other sharp items.
Contact precautions: These are used for people who have or are believed to have infections that can be spread through touch. In these cases, standard precautions are followed, along with extra measures. For example, patients might need to stay in their rooms more, use disposable medical equipment, and have their rooms cleaned thoroughly and often. Contact precautions are used for patients with certain conditions, such as severe diarrhoea caused by a bacterium called Clostridium difficile, certain types of rashes, infections resistant to multiple drugs, or wounds that can’t be covered.
Droplet precautions: These are used for people who have or are believed to have infections that can be spread through droplets, such as when they cough, sneeze, or talk. To help control the spread, patients might need to wear a mask. Children and babies with infections, or people with certain types of rashes or meningitis, may fall into this category.
Airborne precautions: These are used for people who have or are believed to have infections that can be spread through the air. They might need to be placed in a special room designed for this and follow all other precautions. Diseases that typically require these precautions include tuberculosis, measles, chickenpox, and extensive herpes zoster infections. For instance, if a patient has a particular type of rash, cough, fever, or signs of lung infection, they may need to follow airborne precautions.
Often, patients may need to follow more than one of these precautions. For instance, someone suspected of having an infection called C. difficile would need to follow both contact and standard precautions, while a patient with suspected tuberculosis might need airborne, contact, and standard precautions.
Equipment used for Infection Control
Healthcare facilities need to have the right equipment so they can keep all their patients safe. One of the most important things they can do to stop germs from spreading is to keep their hands clean. This can be done by washing their hands with soap and hot water, or by rubbing their hands with a substance that kills germs. This substance can be alcohol-based or not.
Healthcare workers can also wear gloves for extra protection. However, they need to use a new pair of gloves for each patient and throw the gloves away after they finish with that patient. They might also wear other gear to protect themselves, like masks that cover their mouth and nose (like the ones you see in operating rooms), goggles, face shields to protect their eyes and faces, and special robes.
Another part of infection control involves keeping the facilities themselves clean. This includes regular and thorough cleaning of surfaces and floors. Linens, such as sheets and towels, need to be handled in a certain way to avoid touching the healthcare worker’s skin. For this, they use the proper protective gear.
Who is needed to perform Infection Control?
Hospitals must have certain team members in place to create a robust and effective program for preventing infections. This team includes a hospital epidemiologist, infection preventionists, and an infection control committee.
The hospital epidemiologist plays a key role, working with various departments and administrators in the hospital. The job involves explaining their roles, what’s expected of them, and the resources available to them. The epidemiologist is often in charge of the infection prevention program and sometimes the program for improving quality of services as well. This role is typically held by a doctor who specializes in infectious diseases.
An infection preventionist is usually a nurse who has experience in clinical practice, epidemiology (the study of diseases and how they spread), and basic microbiology (the study of tiny organisms like bacteria). The number of infection preventionists a hospital has can vary, depending on factors such as the number of beds, the variety of patients, and the recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The final element of an effective infection control program is the infection control committee. The committee is a team made up of several medical professions including clinicians, nurses, administrators, epidemiologists, infection preventionists, and representatives from labs, pharmacies, operating rooms, and support services. The committee’s main task is to create, apply, and maintain rules related to stopping infections in the hospital.
How is Infection Control performed
To keep a hospital free from infections, there are key actions we can take:
Surveillance: This is like a watchtower. Its main goal is to track the levels of infections and how likely they are to come to our hospital. Usually, these are mostly watched for in places like the intensive care units (ICUs), cancer units, and surgery units. But we also now watch for these infections throughout the whole hospital. This way we can quickly notice and deal with any healthcare-related infections. It’s easier to do this now because of electronic health records. Every healthcare provider can check a patient’s records from their bedside, and we have special electronic systems to spot the patients at a high risk of infections. Hospitals are also required to report certain infections to health authorities.
Isolation: The goal of isolation is to stop the spread of bacteria and viruses from one patient to others. We only use isolation when we need to because it takes up time and resources. But if we didn’t isolate when necessary, then more patients would get sick and the total health care costs would go up. We use guidelines from the CDC and other health organizations to plan how we should isolate patients. There are basic rules that apply to all patients, like washing hands before and after contact, using gloves and other protective gear, and being careful with needles. Some countries also require healthcare providers to keep their arms and hands free from any accessories that might carry germs. If a group of patients have specific signs or tests that point to an infection, we put extra measures in place to prevent that infection from spreading.
Dealing with Infection Outbreaks: If we notice a certain infection is spreading more than usual, or if we find a group of infections all together, we start an investigation. We use advanced techniques to track the spread of the bacteria or virus causing the outbreak. Most outbreaks spread through direct or indirect contact with a bacteria or virus that is resistant to multiple drugs. We separate and isolate the infected patents and put in place the necessary steps to stop the disease from spreading further.
Education: We hold programs and workshops to make sure all healthcare professionals understand how to stop diseases from spreading. We also have staff who specialize in teaching others about infection prevention.
Employee Health: It’s important for the people who look after employee health and the people who manage infection control to work together. They focus on helping employees stay healthy and stopping the spread of diseases. All new employees have a check-up to make sure they’re well protected from common infections like hepatitis B, measles, and chickenpox. We also encourage all healthcare workers to get the flu vaccination every year and do regular tests to see if they’ve come into contact with tuberculosis. The staff also run campaigns and establish rules to help employees take care of their health and avoid infections.
Antimicrobial Stewardship: Antimicrobials are drugs that kill bacteria and fungi. They’re used a lot in hospitals, but we need to use them carefully to stop germs from becoming resistant to them. We keep track of which microbes are becoming more resistant to the drugs and how the drugs are being used. This lets us spot any resistance patterns early and make necessary changes. Depending on our strategy, we can work on these issues before the prescription is written or after it has been given out. We have many techniques we can use to ensure that we are using these drugs wisely.
Policy and Interventions: The main goal of our infection control program is to build and implement policies and interventions that minimize the chance for HAIs (hospital-acquired infections). These are worked on by our infection control committee, and they cover both the hospital as a whole and specific units.
What Else Should I Know About Infection Control?
In simple terms, controlling infections means spotting the signs and symptoms of things like contagious diseases in patients and taking steps to prevent them from spreading. Healthcare workers have a crucial role in this process, as they often are the first to notice symptoms in patients that may suggest an infectious disease, like tuberculosis, is present. It’s important to start taking precautions right away, even before a final diagnosis is confirmed, to stop any risk of the disease spreading to others.
A well-run infection control process leads to fewer infections and a lower risk of multi-drug-resistant pathogens, which are germs that have become resistant to certain types of antibiotics. It’s crucial to take steps to avoid infections that patients can get while in the hospital, as these are a common problem in healthcare.
One of the simplest and most effective ways doctors and nurses can control infections is by washing their hands both before and after interacting with a patient. That’s why hospitals often have reminders near each bed and at the doorway to each room about the importance of hand washing or using hand sanitizer.
Another straightforward measure is to encourage patients to cover their mouth and nose with their forearm rather than their hand when they need to cough or sneeze. This helps to stop the spread of disease-carrying droplets and prevents their hands from getting contaminated. These simple actions can make a big difference in reducing the spread of infections in healthcare settings.
