Which of the following is the first priority in preventing infection when providing care for client?

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Isolation precautions
Invasive devices
Your environment

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Infection Prevention

Healthcare-associated infections, which can occur in the blood, surgical sites, lungs or urine, are a major but preventable threat to patient safety. Protecting our patients, visitors and staff is a top priority for UCLA, and our goal is to have zero healthcare-associated infections. To ensure we do our best to prevent infections in patients, staff and visitors, we take several precautions. We invite you to partner with us and participate in these prevention efforts.

The most important way we prevent healthcare-associated infections is by washing our hands. Healthcare workers and visitors should wash their hands on entering and after leaving the patient room. Hand washing may be done with alcohol hand rub or antibacterial soap and water — both are acceptable.

Germs (bacteria) such as S. aureus (“Staph,” including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA) live on our skin. To protect patients against infections, we apply a cleansing bath treatment (chlorhexidine gluconate also known as CHG) to the skin daily to appropriate patients.

Isolation precautions

Depending on the symptoms or infection(s) you have, our healthcare workers will at times need to use gowns, gloves and/or masks when they enter your room to help stop the spread of germs. You will have a sign on your door if healthcare workers need to use these special “isolation precautions,” and your team will explain this to you. Your visitors may also be required to use these precautions. The four main isolation precaution types include:

Contact isolation (RED sign): gloves and gowns
Contact-spore isolation (PINK sign): gloves and gowns
Droplet isolation (ORANGE sign): surgical mask
Airborne isolation (GREEN sign): special respirator mask (N95)

For all of these isolation precautions, it is important to wash your hands when you enter the room and when you leave the room.

Invasive devices

If you have a urine or blood catheter in place, your healthcare team takes special precautions to keep your catheters infection-free. They have special procedures for placing and maintaining the catheter, will frequently assess the catheter site for symptoms of infection and will remove it as soon as possible. If you have questions about how long you will need these devices, ask your team.

Your environment

To keep you safe from the germs that live in the environment, including the hospital equipment, our Environmental Services workers will clean your room every day, providing your medical condition permits. They will sometimes use ultraviolet (UV) light to disinfect rooms after patients leave the hospital.

You and your visitors play an important role in preventing the spread of germs.

Washing your hands is the best way to kill germs and stop the spread of infections. You should wash your hands after using the bathroom, after touching a bandage and before eating. Your visitors should also wash their hands with alcohol hand rub or soap and water before entering and after leaving your room, and after touching body fluids or bandages. If you are on “droplet” or “airborne” isolation precautions, please make sure your visitors follow instructions about wearing either a surgical mask or a special respirator mask (N95). Ask your nurse or physician if you have any questions.

You can use either the provided alcohol hand rub or the provided soap and water. The alcohol hand rub is very effective for hand washing and should be rubbed until your hands are dry. Soap and water is preferred when your hands are visibly soiled or if you have C. difficile (C. diff) diarrhea. When you wash your hands with soap and water, scrub them for 15 seconds, making sure you wash your fingertips and between your fingers.

You are a member of your healthcare team. Speak up if you have concerns!
Keep your room clean and free of clutter. If your room looks dirty, ask to have it cleaned.
If you have a blood or urine catheter, ask your healthcare team if you still need it.
Please ask friends and family with a fever, cough, runny nose or cold symptoms not to visit while they are sick.
Remind your visitors to get vaccinated against the flu and other infections.

If you have not seen your healthcare workers wash their hands with the alcohol hand rub or soap and water, ask them to do so.
“I didn’t see you wash your hands. Please wash them.”

If you have a catheter in your vein or bladder, tell your nurse if it becomes loose or painful. Also ask each day when it can be removed.
“Do I still need this catheter today? Why?”

Ask your provider if you need any shots or vaccines.
“Should I be receiving any shots or vaccines to protect me during my stay or after I go home?”

If you think that your room or the equipment in your room looks dirty, ask to have it cleaned.
“This looks dirty. Can someone please clean this?”

If you have a bandage (also called a “dressing”), let your nurse know if it gets wet, bloody, loose or feels uncomfortable.
“Can you please check my bandage?”

Internet Citation: A Unit Guide To Infection Prevention for Long-Term Care Staff. Content last reviewed March 2017. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
https://www.ahrq.gov/hai/quality/tools/cauti-ltc/modules/resources/guides/infection-prevent.html

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
1 in 25 hospitalized patients will get an infection as a result of the care they receive, and an estimated 75,000 patients will die each year. Because healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a threat to patient safety, many hospitals and healthcare facilities have made the prevention and reduction of these infections a top priority.

Infection preventionists (IPs) are professionals who make sure healthcare workers and patients are doing all the things they should to prevent infections. Most IPs are nurses, epidemiologists, public health professionals, microbiologists, doctors, or other health professionals who work to prevent germs from spreading within healthcare facilities. They look for patterns of infection within the facility; observe practices; educate healthcare teams; advise hospital leaders and other professionals; compile infection data; develop policies and procedures; and coordinate with local and national public health agencies.

Patient safety is the number one priority for IP. They ensure that:

Healthcare workers wash their hands;
Healthcare workers get the proper vaccinations;
Doctors and pharmacists are providing you with the appropriate antibiotics;
Catheters or indwelling devices are placed in your body after your skin receives proper cleaning and are kept clean and removed as soon as possible;
Safe injection practices are followed at all times;
Healthcare workers wear gloves, gowns, and masks at the right times; and
Your room and any equipment that is used on you will be clean.

Each of us—patients, families, and healthcare personnel—has an important role to play in preventing infection. Learning about IPs and the infection prevention basics will help patients and their families stay healthy while receiving healthcare.

Here are the top 10 ways patients and families can prevent infection:

Speak up for your care. Always talk with your healthcare providers, ask questions, and discuss your concerns. Whenever a treatment is recommended, ask why it is necessary and what risks are associated with it. Write questions down before your appointment, so you don’t forget anything!
Clean your hands often. Hand hygiene is the best way to prevent the spread of infection. Make sure that everyone around you, including your healthcare providers and visitors, clean their hands. If you don’t see that person washing their hands or using an alcohol based hand-rub, don’t feel bad about asking them to do so. Healthcare workers have been educated about hand hygiene and also expect that patients will—and should—ask them about hand washing. It is important that you are also diligent about washing your own hands when you are caring for yourself or a family member.
Ask about safe injection practices. Safe injection practices are steps that your healthcare providers should follow when they give injections. For example, not using the same needle or syringe on more than one patient. Remember: One needle, one syringe, only one time.
Ask to have your room or equipment cleaned. Keeping healthcare facilities clean is extremely important. It’s very easy for germs to be passed from the surfaces to the hands and to other people. So ask to have your room or equipment cleaned if they appear dirty or dusty.
Ask questions about your medications. Using antibiotics the wrong way can cause bacteria to grow into superbugs. Know what your medication is for, how to take it, how long you should take it, and how often you should take it. If you are taking antibiotics, take them exactly as prescribed, even if you start to feel better.
Ask if you should shower before having surgery. If you are having surgery, ask if you should shower with a germ-killing soap ahead of time.
Ask each day if you still need a catheter. Doctors are responsible for ordering the removal of catheters, so ask if you still need it.
Ask about vaccinations so you stay healthy. Vaccines are a very effective way to prevent the suffering (and costs) associated with vaccine-preventable infections.
Recognize an infection preventionist. IPs partner with your healthcare team to make sure everyone is doing the right things to keep you safe from healthcare-associated infections.
Learn about healthcare-associated infections. HAIs are infections that patients can get while receiving treatment for medical or surgical conditions.