Infection Control Practices

Infection Control Practices

English
Spanish

Infection control is a critical aspect of nursing care, and it involves a set of practices and measures that are aimed at preventing the spread of infectious diseases in healthcare settings. Nurses play a key role in infection control, as they are responsible for implementing and monitoring these practices to ensure that patients and healthcare workers remain safe from infections.

More tested concepts in the NCLEX RN:

  1. Standard Precautions: Standard precautions are a set of infection control practices that are used to prevent the transmission of infectious agents from one person to another. These precautions include hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment, and safe injection practices.
  2. Transmission-Based Precautions: Transmission-based precautions are additional infection control measures that are used for patients who are known or suspected to be infected with highly transmissible or antibiotic-resistant organisms. These precautions include contact, droplet, and airborne precautions.
  3. Hand Hygiene: Hand hygiene is one of the most important infection control practices, and it involves washing hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Nurses must perform hand hygiene before and after patient care, after contact with body fluids, and after removing gloves.
  4. Personal Protective Equipment: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn to protect healthcare workers from exposure to infectious agents. PPE includes gloves, gowns, masks, and eye protection, and it must be used appropriately to prevent transmission of infections.
  5. Safe Injection Practices: Safe injection practices are essential for preventing the spread of infectious diseases in healthcare settings. Nurses must follow guidelines for safe injection practices, including using a new needle and syringe for each injection, and using sterile techniques.
  6. Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection: Environmental cleaning and disinfection are important infection control practices that help to prevent the spread of infectious agents. Nurses must ensure that patient care areas are cleaned and disinfected regularly, and that equipment is properly cleaned and sterilized.

This section will cover the following principles of infection control:

  • Asepsis is an infection control principle that includes two types: medical asepsis and surgical asepsis.
  • Nurses and other healthcare providers must begin all procedures and treatments again whenever there is a break in surgical asepsis or medical asepsis.
  • Medical asepsis reduces the number of pathogenic microorganisms and impairs their growth, while surgical asepsis eliminates all microorganisms.
  • Hand hygiene is an effective way to prevent the spread of infection, and alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used as an alternative to soap and water.
  • Universal and standard precautions are infection control measures that are used to prevent the spread of infection among all patients, whether or not they have a known infection.
  • Contact, droplet, and airborne precautions are used to prevent the transmission of infectious pathogens.
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) is specialized equipment and attire used by employees in healthcare to protect against infections, such as gowns, gloves, masks, goggles, and respirators.
  • When donning and removing PPE, nurses must follow basic principles like touching only sterile surfaces with sterile hands and not touching skin surfaces when donning sterile gloves.

In the NCLEXRN exam, candidates are expected to have a good understanding of the different types of isolation precautions that are used to prevent the transmission of infectious pathogens. These precautions are used in healthcare settings to protect both patients and healthcare workers from the spread of infections.

The different types of isolation precautions include:

  1. Standard Precautions: These precautions are designed to be used for all patients in all healthcare settings, regardless of their diagnosis or presumed infection status. Standard precautions aim to prevent the transmission of infectious agents that may be present in blood, body fluids, secretions, excretions (except sweat), non-intact skin, and mucous membranes.
  2. Contact Precautions: These precautions are used for patients who are known or suspected to be infected with epidemiologically important microorganisms that can be transmitted by direct contact with the patient or the patient’s environment. Contact precautions require healthcare workers to wear gloves and gowns when entering the patient’s room and to remove the equipment that has been used in the room.
  3. Droplet Precautions: These precautions are used for patients who are known or suspected to be infected with microorganisms that are transmitted by droplets generated by coughing, sneezing, or talking. Droplet precautions require healthcare workers to wear a surgical mask when entering the patient’s room.
  4. Airborne Precautions: These precautions are used for patients who are known or suspected to be infected with microorganisms that can be transmitted by airborne particles. Airborne precautions require healthcare workers to wear a respirator when entering the patient’s room and to keep the door closed.
  5. Protective Environment Precautions: These precautions are used for patients who have undergone transplantation or who have severe immunosuppression. Protective environment precautions require healthcare workers to wear gowns, gloves, masks, and protective eyewear when entering the patient’s room.

In addition to understanding the different types of isolation precautions, NCLEXRN candidates are also expected to know the proper procedures for implementing these precautions, as well as the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Candidates may be asked to identify which isolation precautions are necessary for a given patient, or they may be asked to describe the appropriate PPE for a given situation.

Here are some common conditions tested in NCLEX RN for each type of isolation:

Contact Isolation:

  • Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
  • Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE)
  • Clostridium difficile (C. diff)
  • Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs)
  • Scabies
  • Herpes simplex virus (HSV)

Droplet Isolation:

  • Influenza
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae
  • Neisseria meningitidis
  • Bordetella pertussis
  • Rubella
  • Mumps

Airborne Isolation:

  • Tuberculosis (TB)
  • Measles
  • Varicella (chickenpox)
  • Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
  • Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
  • COVID-19 (coronavirus disease)

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is specialized equipment and attire used by healthcare workers to protect against infections. Examples of PPE include gowns, gloves, masks, goggles, and respirators. It is essential to properly don and remove PPE to prevent the spread of infection.

Donning PPE involves the following steps:

  1. Hand hygiene: Perform hand hygiene using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash hands with soap and water.
  2. Gown: Put on the gown by holding it by the neck and waist ties, and then place it over the head.
  3. Mask: Put on the mask by placing it over the nose and mouth, and then securing it behind the ears or head.
  4. Eye protection: Put on eye protection, such as goggles or a face shield, by placing it over the eyes and adjusting it to fit.
  5. Gloves: Put on gloves by grabbing the first glove at the cuff and then pulling it over the hand, repeat with the second glove.

Removing PPE involves the following steps:

  1. Gloves: Remove gloves by grabbing the outside of one glove and pulling it off, then grabbing the inside of the other glove and pulling it off, without touching the outside of the glove.
  2. Gown: Remove the gown by untying or breaking the waist and neck ties, and then rolling it away from the body.
  3. Hand hygiene: Perform hand hygiene using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash hands with soap and water.
  4. Eye protection: Remove eye protection by holding the earpieces or headband and pulling it away from the face.
  5. Mask: Remove the mask by grasping the ear loops or ties and pulling it away from the face.
  6. Hand hygiene: Perform hand hygiene using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash hands with soap and water.

It is important to follow proper donning and removing procedures to prevent the spread of infection.

In summary, infection control is a critical aspect of nursing care, and nurses must be knowledgeable about infection control practices and be able to implement them effectively to ensure patient and healthcare worker safety. Standard precautions, transmission-based precautions, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, safe injection practices, and environmental cleaning and disinfection are all important concepts that nurses must understand to pass the NCLEX-RN exam and provide safe and effective care.