Discussions
Discussions
Infection Control in Healthcare Facilities
When you walk into a healthcare facility, who is making sure the environment is safe from the spread of infection? Why can this be especially important for the BNTM community? For people with bronchiectasis and NTM, infection prevention is especially important because healthcare facilities bring together many people with respiratory illnesses.
An infection control nurse plays a major role in protecting patients, healthcare workers, visitors, and the community from infections acquired or spread in a healthcare setting. What does an infection control nurse do? Their job is essentially to prevent infections before they happen and stop them from spreading when they do occur.
Key responsibilities include:
- Monitor infections: Track infections occurring in the hospital, clinic, or other facility and look for patterns or increases.
- Investigate outbreaks: If several patients develop the same infection, the infection-control team investigates where it may have originated and how it is spreading.
- Develop infection-prevention policies: They help establish procedures for hand hygiene, cleaning, sterilization, isolation, PPE, respiratory precautions, and other safety measures. They address questions such as: Should this patient be separated from other patients? How can we protect vulnerable patients in the waiting room?
- Educate healthcare workers: They train staff on infection-prevention practices.
- Monitor compliance: They may observe handwashing, PPE use, cleaning procedures, and other activities to make sure policies are being followed.
- Manage isolation precautions: They help determine what precautions are appropriate for patients with potentially transmissible infections.
- Surveillance: They follow organisms such as C. difficile, influenza, tuberculosis, and other healthcare-associated infections.
- Work with public health departments: Certain infections or outbreaks may need to be reported to the CDC, state, and Local health departments
Do you have any infection control experiences or suggestions that you would like to share with the community?
It is not our intention to serve as a substitute for medical advice and any content posted should not be used for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. We make every effort to support our members, our medical professionals cannot and will not provide a diagnosis or suggest a specific medication; those decisions should be left to your personal medical team. While we encourage individuals to share their personal experiences with Bronchiectasis and NTM, please consult a physician before making changes to your own Bronchiectasis and NTM management plan.
Community posts are monitored by the 360social Community Manager, as well as staff respiratory therapists, educators, and other medical professionals.