As unfortunate as it may sound, it is not uncommon for someone to catch an infection while working, visiting, or staying in a hospital. It has been especially evident in the current Covid-19 crisis, where a mere touch or a breath in the presence of a coughing patient spread the disease to others.
Hospitals are the epicenter of such unfortunate events. Doctors handling sick patients are highly likely to contract infections from their patients if not for proper sanitization. Moreover, germs can travel from one patient to another via hospital air vents r poor cleaning practices. Thus it is essential for hospital management and cleaning staff to control the spread of infections inside a healthcare facility. We’ve listed a few handy dandy tips to employ below.
-
Provide frontline workers With PPE
In the hospital environment, where contamination risks are tremendous, the most significant way to bolster the line of defense is providing medical staff with protective gear. Of course, doctors cannot avoid touching patients. Still,they can use protective equipment to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. This equipment includes gloves, earplugs, face shields, shoe covers, to name a few.In addition, doctors and nurses must also wear isolation gowns. These PPEs help prevent healthcare workers from coming into contact with infected body fluids and parts while looking after patients. While it is best to use disposable varieties, management can also opt for Medical Links reusable isolation gowns for sale to keep running expenses low. With the proper detergents and washing techniques, frontline workers can use these products a couple of times before throwing them away.
-
Identify contagious patients and take special precautions
Some infections or diseases are more virulent than others. As frontline workers, knowing who poses a greater risk is vital information for controlling the spread. Whether such risk is high or not, doctors cannot step back from a patient in need.So only effective preventive measures can guarantee their safety. Healthcare facilities should have a system for identifying infection risks and allocate unique resources to high-risk cases. Patients with highly contagious infections should be kept in special wards. Or, at the very least, doctors and nurses need to know the infection risk of the patient they are dealing with so that they can prepare accordingly. This will help to reduce the risk of infections that travel via air and touch.
-
Maintain good hand-hygiene
Touching patients – which is unavoidable, of course – is a major contributing factor tocross-contamination. Thus, doctors and visitors need to maintain hand hygiene inside a hospital. WHO has identified five crucial moments healthcare workers must sanitize their hands when handling patients. These include before dealing with a patient, before performing an antiseptic procedure, after handling bodily fluids or when there is any risk of coming into contact with bodily fluids, after dealing with the patient, and after coming into contact with the patient’s surroundings. While using disposable gloves is essentials, staff must also wash their hands frequently to erase germs. Hospital management must also ensure that sanitizer dispensers are placed throughout the facility so that workers, residents, and visitors can disinfect their hands regularly.
-
Sterilize the environment regularly
The fascinating and perhaps also frightening thing about pathogens is that they are microscopic. Even where the surface appears spotless, there may be thousands of viruses or bacteria at their insidious work. In hospitals where thousands of patients and staff touch surfaces like doorknobs and railing, the risk of cross-contamination is extremely high. Therefore, the hospital’s management must regularly clean germ hot spots with disinfectants to kill microorganisms that pose a threat. It is also necessary to clean air vents to reduce the risk of airborne infections and supply clean breathing air. A strict top-to-bottom cleaning strategy must be put into action to guarantee the environment inside a healthcare facility is safe.
-
Take proper precautions during patient-care
Inside the patient ward, when the doctor is treating the patient directly, and later when dealing with patient-used items, the risk of contamination is the highest. If proper measures are not taken, it is not safe for the care provider or others who come into contact with them. Take special care to properly dispose of a patient’s used equipment, particularly those that have been contaminated by blood or bodily secretions. Not only does lack of care here threaten the healthcare team, but also other patients in the hospital. Ideally,patient equipment should be disposable, but proper sterilization is mandatory in the case of reusable gear and indispensable machinery.
-
Use respiratory hygiene measures and encourage patients to do so as well
Contamination through inhalation of pathogens when someone else coughs is not something new. Especially with respiratory problems like phlegm and flu, coughing can transmit the virus or bacterium. Doctors frequently facesuch situations where the risk of such contamination is high. Therefore, healthcare workers should practice the ideal way to cough and also encourage their patients to do the same. This method involvescovering the nose and mouth with a tissue, blowing into it, disposing of it immediately, and washing your hands afterward. Not only does this spread causative agents from dispersing into the air, but washing also keeps hands clean.
-
Dispose of waste tactfully
Hospital waste is also hazardous, especially if t leaks or spills in the environment. Moreover, decomposition may give off toxic fumes that can cause people to become sick. Therefore, it is essential for staff to know how to categorize waste while disposing of it. This helps to sort out recyclables from disposables. If you work in a hospital, you would be aware that waste is categorized. Hospital waste is typically divided into domestic waste, contaminated waste(swabs and probe covers), and high-risk or hazardous waste(sharps and needles). Cleaning staff must know how to properly dispose of material to prevent infections from traveling outside the healthcare system.
Conclusion
Hospitals are high-risk zones for contamination. Proper preventive measures are essential to ensure that people inside the hospital stay healthy and disease-free. This article mentions a few tips to help prevent the spread of infections inside a hospital. These include providing workers with PPE, separating patients based on the risk of transmission, maintaining good hand hygiene, disinfecting the facility, and disposing of medical waste properly. By following these tips, hospitals and clinics can bring down incidents of cross-contamination and infection.
