Understanding And Implementing The Infection Control Policy In A Care System

Infection Control Policy or the ICP003 Cleaning and Disinfection Policy has been made to make sure that the staffs in healthcare foundation know about health care policies and practise it. This will help in maintaining high standards in cleanliness, many infections can be prevented from spreading to others like staff, patients and visitors.

Infectious diseases like plague, tuberculosis, SARS have repeatedly told the world how important it is to have infection control policies in each health care setting so that the workers can implement them. Infectious diseases are a kind of serious conditions caused by bacteria and viruses and spread through contact with humans, animals, contaminated surfaces, and airborne viruses or bacteria. People who work in the Industries are at high risk in spreading these diseases. These industries can be a day care centre, hospital, medical worker etc.

Having an infection control policy does not mean just washing hands before doing anything. It is understandable that anyone who does not belong to or work in a medical line will not have a complete knowledge on what it actually involves and what it means. To make people understand what all infection control policy has, there are any programmes conducted by several organizations. An infection control programme gathers various practices which, when used appropriately, restrict the spread of infection. Any violation in infection control practices leads to transmission of infection from patients to health care workers, other patients and attendants.

It is therefore important for all healthcare workers, patients, their family members, friends and close contacts to know, understand adhere to the infection control policies. Infection control is an essential component of any health care centre. Every workplace should have infection control policies to prevent the spread of disease, which can be as simple as hand washing and as complicated as high-level disinfection of surgical instruments.

It is better to provide equipment such as gloves, and first aid kits in the workplace so that a lot of misery can be avoided. Infectious disease specialists can reduce risks in many hospital functions, such as purchasing equipment, protection during construction, and preparing for disasters. At most health systems, infectious disease specialists play a main role in infection control. Any measures taken by such a person will help in reducing the risk of infection.

Few Basic Measures Maintained As Part of the Infection Control Policy

The workers of National Health Services in England need to follow all the directives mentioned in the National Infection Prevention Control Manual, for checking the spread of any infection among patients whom they are handling regularly.  The most important chapter of this manual is its first chapter, which is named as Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICP) Policy that deals effectively with the infection control policy, and all its points are sincerely followed by all the NHS staffs.  The second chapter of this manual is titled as Transmission Based Precautions, which deals with the necessary precautions while dealing with transmittable diseases.  

Main constituents of the Standard Infection Control Policy

• The hygienic placement of patients in their rooms and in their beds.
•  The hygienic cleansing procedures of hands while handling patients, mainly with germ-killing soap and water, along with antiseptic lotion.
• The normal respiratory hygiene and some etiquette regarding coughing and sneezing in the presence of patients.
• Taking care of the personal protective equipment that are used in the medical treatment of patients.
• Hygienic management of all the personal care equipment, which are used daily by patients and their care takers, mainly in case of infectious diseases. 
• Adequate arrangements to keep the environment free from all kinds of pollution and infections, mainly in the rooms of patients.
• Checking about the regular hygienic cleansing of the bed linen of patients, as well as the other furnishings surrounding the patient that are often touched by him/her.
• All the blood or any other body fluid of patients, like mucous, sweat or saliva should be handled and disposed very carefully, to prevent any infection from the patient to others around him/her.
• Similarly all the waste products of the patient needs to be disposed, following all the safety norms mentioned in the SICP.

Hence, the NHS workers need to be well trained for taking all these safety measures, and in preventing all types of infections. Also, the social health-care service providers should be aware of these infection control measures. All the healthcare workers should be immunized against all infections, to save them from all kinds of trouble later.

A Guide to Infection Control Risk Assessment

An infection control policy is required for any workplace environment regardless of the type of work executed. However, all such policies must cover same sections so that the employer is easily able to eliminate, reduce or take any other steps to manage and arrest the potential infectious situation. Any person with a contagious illness in the vicinity inadvertently put others at risk. This risk assessment will help you control infections in any work settings. Let us understand it further.

The Legislative requirement for infection control management

Within any healthcare or work environment, the infection control management should always aim and strive for a safe working environment for each and everybody involved, directly or indirectly. It is the duty of the employer to ensure proper management of health, safety and welfare of all involved. This included reporting of injuries and all kinds of health risks and occurrences, expanding even to food.

The policy

The best way to control an infection is by developing a powerful and effective infection policy. It should be crafted keeping the work activities of the work environment in mind along with considering personnel and all others within the environment. The policy must be practical and realistic enough to make implementation possible. It must not be vague and open to interpretation. Instead, it must be so clear and structured that any personnel will know exactly what is expected of him for the policy’s implementation. The policy must always remain live and must be periodically reviewed and changes incorporated if any new risk gets introduced in the workplace. Risks can come from personnel or even visitors who may come in with an infectious disease maybe because of any local outbreak or any epidemic or pandemic outbreak at international level. The policy must make it mandatory to assess infection control risks using the prescribed means.