INFORMATION SHEET 1.

1-1
Infection Control Procedures

Learning Objectives:

After reading this information sheet, you will be able to understand how to
prevent infection in health facilities and in the home.

Introduction:

Infection control practices are critical to reduce the transmission of infections from
one person to another, such as from a healthcare worker to a patient or vice versa. In
health care and public health practice settings, infection control includes various
measures that prevent and contain the spread of infectious disease.

Hand hygiene

Regular and effective hand hygiene is the single-most important thing you can do to
protect yourself and others from infection.

Your hands naturally have germs on them.  Some live naturally on the hands, others
are picked up as a result of touching objects or surfaces (e.g. tables, chairs, beds) as
we go about our daily lives. This is quite normal and doesn’t pose a risk. But as you go
about your role as a HCA during the in care settings, your hands will literally ‘pick up’
lots of other germs, and these can cause harm if they are passed to another person –
such as a patient or client.  Hand hygiene aims to get rid of as many of these types of
germs as possible.

Before we look at how to perform hand hygiene and the times when you must perform
it, there is one thing we need to emphasize.

Hand hygiene involves not only washing your hands, but also drying them thoroughly.

You can wash your hands really well and remove the problem germs, but if you then
walk away with your hands still damp, more germs will attach themselves and your
effort will have been wasted. So always remember this simple equation:
Hand hygiene = hand washing + hand drying.
Alcohol hand gels can be used as an alternative to hand washing – you should follow
the instructions for use on the gel packaging.
Hand hygiene process

Before we look at how to perform hand hygiene well, take a look at the diagram above.
This shows the parts of the hands that are missed when health care workers perform
hand hygiene sloppily. As you can see, the fingertips and the thumbs are among the
most frequently-missed parts of the hand. And when you think of it, aren’t these the
parts of the hand that are in most frequent contact with patients/clients?
Hand hygiene can be performed either with soap and water or with alcohol hand rubs,
which are now widely available in all health care settings. There are slight differences
in the processes followed for the two, and these will now be shown. But regardless of
which method you’re using, it’s important that you first:
remove any wristwatches or other items of jewelry (so you can clean the skin they
usually cover).
roll your sleeves up.

When to perform hand hygiene

There are numerous occasions during your day when you need to perform hand
hygiene. Germs can get onto your hands by a number of means, including:
patients/clients coughing or sneezing close to you or touching your hands
touching surfaces, furnishings, fittings and equipment in the patient’s/client’s room or
living space
handling waste products from the patient (urine, vomit, feces or sputum, or items
covered with these).
Here are some of the most important times for hand hygiene.

You must always wash and dry your hands (perform hand hygiene):
before and after any contact with the patient/client
after taking your gloves off.

You must also perform hand hygiene:

 before putting on personal protective equipment and after taking it off
 before giving the patient/client food or drinks
 after making the patient’s/client’s bed
  after helping the patient/client back from the toilet
 after removing any waste from the patient’s/client’s living area.

And of course, you should perform hand hygiene:

 before eating
 after using the toilet
 after covering your own mouth and nose while coughing or sneezing
 after using a disposable tissue
 when you start and finish work.

It’s really important to note, however, that there will be other times when you’ll feel
you need to perform hand hygiene – it all depends on the situation you’re in and how
you feel you can best protect your patient/client, your colleagues and yourself.