Which precaution is necessary to help prevent health care associated infections?
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Healthcare-associated infections, which can occur in the blood, surgical sites, lungs or urine, are a major but preventable threat to patient safety. Protecting our patients, visitors and staff is a top priority for UCLA, and our goal is to have zero healthcare-associated infections. To ensure we do our best to prevent infections in patients, staff and visitors, we take several precautions. We invite you to partner with us and participate in these prevention efforts. Show
What we are doingHand hygieneThe most important way we prevent healthcare-associated infections is by washing our hands. Healthcare workers and visitors should wash their hands on entering and after leaving the patient room. Hand washing may be done with alcohol hand rub or antibacterial soap and water — both are acceptable. Skin cleansingGerms (bacteria) such as S. aureus (“Staph,” including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA) live on our skin. To protect patients against infections, we apply a cleansing bath treatment (chlorhexidine gluconate also known as CHG) to the skin daily to appropriate patients. Isolation precautionsDepending on the symptoms or infection(s) you have, our healthcare workers will at times need to use gowns, gloves and/or masks when they enter your room to help stop the spread of germs. You will have a sign on your door if healthcare workers need to use these special “isolation precautions,” and your team will explain this to you. Your visitors may also be required to use these precautions. The four main isolation precaution types include:
For all of these isolation precautions, it is important to wash your hands when you enter the room and when you leave the room. Invasive devicesIf you have a urine or blood catheter in place, your healthcare team takes special precautions to keep your catheters infection-free. They have special procedures for placing and maintaining the catheter, will frequently assess the catheter site for symptoms of infection and will remove it as soon as possible. If you have questions about how long you will need these devices, ask your team. Your environmentTo keep you safe from the germs that live in the environment, including the hospital equipment, our Environmental Services workers will clean your room every day, providing your medical condition permits. They will sometimes use ultraviolet (UV) light to disinfect rooms after patients leave the hospital. What you can doYou and your visitors play an important role in preventing the spread of germs. Hand washing for patients and visitorsWashing your hands is the best way to kill germs and stop the spread of infections. You should wash your hands after using the bathroom, after touching a bandage and before eating. Your visitors should also wash their hands with alcohol hand rub or soap and water before entering and after leaving your room, and after touching body fluids or bandages. If you are on “droplet” or “airborne” isolation precautions, please make sure your visitors follow instructions about wearing either a surgical mask or a special respirator mask (N95). Ask your nurse or physician if you have any questions.  How to wash your handsYou can use either the provided alcohol hand rub or the provided soap and water. The alcohol hand rub is very effective for hand washing and should be rubbed until your hands are dry. Soap and water is preferred when your hands are visibly soiled or if you have C. difficile (C. diff) diarrhea. When you wash your hands with soap and water, scrub them for 15 seconds, making sure you wash your fingertips and between your fingers. A father whose son is waiting for him to be discharged from the hospital so he can come home and teach his child how to throw a baseball, a grandmother who organizes her 72-person family reunion every year, a little girl who loves glitter, playing soccer, and annoying her older sister, a student who is applying to colleges and looking forward to prom and graduation...all of these people’s lives and the lives of those who love them could be affected if these patients acquire a healthcare associated infection. HAI Basics HAI BasicsWhat is a HAI?HAI is an acronym that is used interchangeably for Hospital Acquired Infections and Healthcare Associated Infections. They are sometimes also referred to as nosocomial infections. People get these infections while receiving care for other medical conditions. To be considered a HAI, the infection must not be present before that individual is under hospital care. How many hospital patients get healthcare associated infections?1 in 31 hospital patients have at least one healthcare associated infection while hospitalized. In 2015, this translated to 687,000 HAIs in U.S. acute care hospitals.1 Around 10% of patients with HAIs (72,000 hospital patients) died during their hospitalizations.1 Why is HAI prevention so important?Preventing hospital acquired infections is part of your responsibility to your patients, your co-workers, and yourself. It’s an important part of keeping everyone healthy and safe. HAI prevention practices can lead to an estimated $25-$31.5 billion in medical cost savings.2 Prevention saves hospitals money and allows medical professionals to focus on the primary condition of patients in their care. Our #1 HAI Prevention Tip: Hand HygieneClean hands are a crucial part of preventing the spread of deadly germs and HAIs to patients as well as preventing healthcare providers from acquiring infections from patients. The CDC’s ‘Clean Hands Count’ campaign highlights this important infection prevention step. Check out this video created by Toronto General Hospital on the importance of hand washing! This video may seem a little silly, using green paint to visualize germs, but it also highlights an important point and allows you to see why hand washing matters. When we don’t wash our hands, the germs spread and can lead to healthcare-associated infections. Why don’t people always wash their hands?Studies show that healthcare providers wash their hands less than ½ the times that they should.3 But why is this the case, if hand washing is so important to preventing healthcare associated infections? One reason may be that healthcare workers may need to wash their hands as many as 100 times per 12 hour shift (depending on patient load and intensity of care).3 One study found a variety of risk factors for poor adherence to recommended hand-washing practices including:4 ObservedReported
The study recommends educating staff on hand washing guidelines and agents. It states that past studies found that alcohol-based hand rubs that contained emollients were less irritating to the skin than the soaps tested.4 One option for alcohol-based hand sanitizer is Antiseptic Bio-Hand Cleaner, which contains 67% ethyl alcohol and aloe vera. Other hand sanitizer options include 3M Avagard D Instant Hand Antiseptic, which meets CDC, AORN, and WHO Guidelines and is compatible with CHG (chlorhexidine gluconate) an 2XL Touch-Free Foam Hand Sanitizer a dermatologist-tested option with Vitamin E and Aloe to soothe dry and irritated skin. Because increased hand-hygiene can lead to skin dryness, the study also recommends having free skin-care lotion available.4 3M Cavilon Moisturizing Hand Lotion is designed for healthcare professionals to restore skin’s moisture. It can be used under latex gloves without breaking them down and not affect the activity of CHG hand antiseptic products. What’s “In” for Preventing Hospital Acquired Infections?A study entitled The Health Professional's Role in Preventing Nosocomial Infections, declares that “Frequent hand washing remains the single most important intervention in infection control”.5 However, they also include other suggestions for practical ways to prevent HAIs.5 What’s In?
Hand Sanitizer vs. Soap and WaterThe CDC recommends using alcohol-based hand sanitizer when your hands are not visibly dirty because it is potentially more effective at killing hand germs and less irritating and drying to your skin than soap. Plus, it’s easier to use during the course of care.3 A 2014 study on strategies to prevent healthcare associated infections recommended performing hand hygiene with an alcohol-based hand rub as well. However, the study recommended using an antimicrobial or nonantimicrobial soap when hands are visibly soiled and during norovirus or C. difficile outbreaks.6 Another study found that 100% hand-hygiene compliance using soap and water would take 16 hours of nursing time for a 24 hour shift. However, using alcoholic hand disinfection at the bedside to achieve 100% compliance requires only 3 hours.5 Hand Washing & GlovesGloves should be used as a supplement to hand washing. Even if you wear gloves, you still need to practice good hand hygiene. The CDC recommends changing your gloves if they are damaged, look dirty, have bodily fluids on them, or you are moving from a contaminated to a clean body site.3 Clean Hands Count: The Importance of Hand Washing from the CDCSix HAIs Reported to CMSProspective Payment System (PPS) hospitals are required by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to report data on 6 HAI measures:
Partnering to Heal: Interactive GameHospital acquired infection can have a significant effect on your patient’s health. Partnering to Heal is a free interactive game designed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that allows you to see the effect of your decisions on your patient’s health. See a glimpse of how the interactive game works in this video!You can choose between five characters: a family caregiver, unit director, infection preventionist, medical student, or registered nurse. Then, as you move through the game, you make decisions that show how patient outcomes are impacted by medical judgement, communication, teamwork, and attention to infection control. It’s a fun way to refresh your infection prevention skills and get other staff members to think about the importance of prevention and commit to taking steps to reduce HAIs. Start playing Partnering to Heal now!9 Standard Infection Precautions to Use with All PatientsWhile some situations and patient conditions require additional infection prevention precautions. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends these nine precautions to take with all patients:7
Infection Prevention for 6 Hospital Acquired InfectionsLearn more about six HAIs and specific prevention steps below.6,8
Infection Prevention SuppliesWhile there is a huge array of products available for infection prevention, here are some commonly used supplies. Hand Hygiene
Environmental & Equipment Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting
Wound Care
Other
Read the Research on Healthcare Associated InfectionsTitle:A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2014 Updates Title:Evidence-Based Programs and Strategies for Reducing Healthcare-Associated Infections in Critical Access Hospitals Title:National and State Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report Title: Healthcare‐acquired infections: prevention strategies How Nurses Can Prevent Hospital Acquired InfectionsNurses can make a big difference in preventing hospital acquired infections through evidence-based practice, nursing research, and patient education. Following these basic steps can help keep your patients healthy.9 Setting Your Infection Prevention GoalsNow that you know more about infection prevention, work to set up a plan for your hospital. It’s not enough to aim for a prevention rate at the national baseline or slightly above the other hospitals around you. For your patients and your coworkers, your goal should always be zero HAIs. Get started by forming a committee made of a variety of healthcare personnel from nurses and physicians, all the way up to senior leadership. Decide on evidence-based practices and steps you can take to prevent HAIs, from staff education to written guidelines to a new culture that admits errors and learns from them. And choose how you plan to measure your new practices from whether you focus on one HAI to start with or tackle the main six to how you share these statistics with your staff. Don’t forget to schedule your next meeting so you can continue to build on your current work. For more infection control resources, check out the links below! More ResourcesReferences Medical Disclaimer: The information provided on this site, including text, graphics, images and other material, are for informational purposes only and are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other healthcare professional with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition. What is the best way to prevent health care associated infections?Proper use of personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, masks, gowns), aseptic technique, hand hygiene, and environmental infection control measures are primary methods to protect the patient from transmission of microorganisms from another patient and from the health care worker.
What are the four 4 infection prevention precautions?Hand hygiene. Use of personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, masks, eyewear). Respiratory hygiene / cough etiquette. Sharps safety (engineering and work practice controls).
What are the 3 most important actions to prevent infection?Ways you can reduce or slow the spread of infections include: Get the appropriate vaccine. Wash your hands frequently. Practice physical distancing from members outside your household, when appropriate (staying more than 2 metres (6 feet) apart).
What is the single most important strategy in preventing healthcareHealthcare workers' effective hand hygiene is the single most important strategy to prevent healthcare-associated infections.
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