Infection prevention and control is:
•a scientific approach with
•practical solutions designed to
prevent harm, caused by infections,
to patients and health care workers
•grounded in principles of infectious
disease, epidemiology, social
science and health system strengthening, and
•rooted in patient safety and health
service quality.
Who
is at risk of infection?
Benefits of IPC
IPC
goals in outbreak preparedness
Role
of the IPC focal point, team or committee
•Knowledge:
have an understanding of the IPC strategies
needed for outbreaks/epidemics, etc
•Assessment,
preparedness and readiness
•Policy
and SOPs development
•Participate
in response and recovery
•Participate
in surveillance & monitoring
•Patient
management
•Infrastructure
for patient management
•Education
General
advice for COVID-19
IPC
strategies for preventing/limiting the spread of
COVID-19
•Applying standard
precautions for all patients
•Ensuring triage,
early recognition, and source control
•Implementing empiric
additional precautions for
suspected cases of COVID-19 infection
•Implementing
administrative controls
•Using environmental
and engineering controls.
Standard precautions
•The basic level of IPC precautions, to be used for ALL patients
at
ALL times regardless of suspected or confirmed status of the
patient
•Risk assessment is critical for all
activities, i.e. assess each
health care activity and determine the personal
protective
equipment (PPE) that is needed for adequate protection.
Elements
of Standard Precautions
1.Hand hygiene
2.Respiratory hygiene
(etiquette)
3.PPE according to the
risk
4.Safe injection
practices, sharps management and
injury prevention
5.Safe handling,
cleaning and disinfection of patient
care equipment
6.Environmental
cleaning
7.Safe handling and
cleaning of soiled linen
8.Waste management
Chain
of Transmission
Hand
Hygiene
•Best way to prevent the spread of germs in the health
care
setting and community
•Our hands are our main tool for work as health care
workers-
and they are the key link in the chain of transmission.
Hand
hygiene: WHO 5 moments
Hand
hygiene: HOW
•Use appropriate product and technique
•An alcohol-based hand rub product is preferable, if
hands are not
visibly soiled
•Rub
hands for 20–30 seconds!
Soap, running water
and single use towel, when visibly dirty or contaminated with
proteinaceous material•Wash
hands for 40–60 seconds!
