AFFILIATE ORIENTATION MANUAL 18 INFECTION PREVENTION Healthcare Associated Infection/Events and Prevention 10 out 100 hospitalized patients get a health care associated infection (World Health Organization). 441,000 patients contract one of five hospital acquired infections each year, and about 50% of these infections are avoidable. Two of the most effective infection prevention techniques include hand hygiene, cough etiquette, and respiratory hygiene. Others include safe handling of laundry, patients on precautions/safe transportation and handling of dirty patient equipment/devices. Tuberculosis Training (Symptoms and Precautions) Tuberculosis symptoms include persistent cough, bloody sputum, weight loss and night sweats. If a patient displays these symptoms, place a surgical/ isolation mask on the patient until you can remove him/ her to a negative pressure room. For more details, refer to the Tuberculosis (TB) Management Plan. Hand Hygiene Policy For All Cone Health Personnel and Affiliates providing care, treatment and services. Hand antisepsis reduces the incidence of health care associated infections. It is the most important infection prevention tool available for minimizing the transmission of infectious agents. Because hand hygiene is so critical to patient safety and care, all Cone Health personnel and affiliates providing care, treatment and services are expected to perform good hand hygiene when entering or exiting a patient’s room. Even if the patient is not in their room, perform hand hygiene before and after contact with the patient’s environment. Hand washing or hand antisepsis should be performed so the patient and visitors may directly observe the act. For those areas where hand hygiene stations are contraindicated at the patient’s exact location, utilizing the closest station is acceptable (example, patient rooms at Behavioral Health Center and ED hallways designated for patient overflow). Note: Alcohol-based hand rub is the hand hygiene agent of choice for Cone Health, unless contraindicated. Requirements Hand hygiene applies to all clinical personnel and personnel who interact with patients, have duties on clinical units, work in food processing, or work with sterile product preparation. CDC Indicators for Handwashing and Hand Antisepsis When hands are visibly dirty, contaminated with proteinaceous material or are visibly soiled with blood or other body fluids, wash hands with soap and water. If hands are not visibly soiled, use an alcohol-based hand rub for routinely decontaminating hands in all other clinical situations described below. Alternatively, wash hands with soap and water. • Decontaminate hands before having direct contact with patients. • Decontaminate hands before donning sterile gloves when inserting a central intravascular catheter. • Decontaminate hands before inserting indwelling urinary catheters, peripheral vascular catheters or other invasive devices that do not require a surgical procedure. • Decontaminate hands after contact with a patient’s intact skin (example: taking a pulse or blood pressure, lifting a patient). • Decontaminate hands after contact with body fluids or excretions, mucous membranes, nonintact skin and wound dressings. • Decontaminate hands if moving from a contaminated body site to a clean body site during patient care. • Decontaminate hands after contact with inanimate objects (medical equipment and supplies) in the patient environment. • Decontaminate hands after removing gloves. • Before eating and after using a restroom, wash hands with soap and water. Hand Hygiene Technique When decontaminating hands with an alcohol-based hand rub: • Apply product to palm of one hand and rub hands together, covering all surfaces of the hands and fingers, until hands are dry. • Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding the volume of product to use. To avoid a fire hazard, health care workers should avoid contact with all objects until their hands are completely dry. • Alcohol-based hand rubs should not be used when hands are visibly soiled with blood or other organic materials or for hand cleansing when leaving a