INF ECTION P R EVENTION


isolation rooms such as Rediroom which is designed for patients under droplet or contact precautions. Using temporary isolation provides an alternative to building expensive isolation units. The limited availability of single patient rooms highlights the importance of ready-made isolation units to limit the spread of clinically-relevant infections.22


Education, training and communication With time pressures placed on healthcare workers it is common for training sessions to be cancelled. However, as studies have found that healthcare worker’s knowledge of IP&C needs to be improved, it is important that continuous training be made available.23 Nurses should be upskilled on the principles of IP&C which should cover hand hygiene, the importance of environmental cleaning and disinfection and use of PPE.1,24 Hospital managers should support healthcare workers by providing information posters and leaflets to remind them of the risk of HCAIs and the precautions that should be taken.1,24


Some examples


of posters that can be mounted can be found here: https://gamahealthcare.com/ coronavirus/resources/ A study by Shepherd et al (2020)23


articles/PMC7045184/


6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/index.html


7 Wake R, Morgan M, Choi J (2020) Reducing nosocomial transmission of COVID-19: implementation of a COVID-19 triage system. 20:5, 141-145. https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/ clinmedicine/20/5/e141


8 Carrico R, Garrett H, Balcom D (2018) Infection Prevention and Control Core Practices: A Roadmap for Nursing Practice. Nursing. 48:8, 28-29. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6290992/


found


that combining the use of Clinell Universal Wipes and Clinell Sporicidal Wipes with training of healthcare workers, improved knowledge of effective and appropriate products, improved use of PPE and reduced time spent cleaning. This will ultimately improve IP&C best practice in hospitals.23 Overall, HCAIs are a significant burden for hospitals in the UK and they continue to pose a threat to patients and staff. However these risks can be reduced if healthcare workers adhere to IP&C best practice. CSJ


References 1 Storr J, Twyman A, Zingg W (2017) Core components for effective infection prevention and control programmes: new WHO evidence-based recommendations. Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control. 6:6, 1-18 https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5223492/ pdf/13756_2016_Article_149.pdf


2 Nuffield Trust (2020) Healthcare-associated infections https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/ resource/healthcare-associated-infections National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2014) Infection prevention and control https:// www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs61/chapter/ introduction


4 Haque M, Sartelli M, McKimm J (2018) Health care-associated infections – an overview. Infect Drug Resist.11,2321-2333. https://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6245375/


5 Guest F, Keating T, Gould D (2020) Modelling the annual NHS costs and outcomes attributable to healthcare-associated infections in England. 10:1. BMJ Open. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/


9 Salamaa, Haifa, Mousa (2013) The effect of hand hygiene compliance on hospital-acquired infections in an ICU setting in a Kuwaiti teaching hospital. 6:1, 27-34. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S187603411200130X


10 World Health Organisation (2009) Your Five Moments for Hand Hygiene. https://www.who.int/ gpsc/5may/Your_5_Moments_For_Hand_Hygiene_ Poster.pdf


11 World Health Organization (2014) Infection Prevention and Control of Epidemic- and Pandemic- Prone Acute Respiratory Infections in Health Care. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK214342/


12 National Institute of Healthcare Excellence (2017) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK214342/


13 Loveday H, Wilson J, Pratt R (2014) National Evidence-Based Guidelines for Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections in NHS Hospitals in England. The Journal of Hospital Infection.88:1, 1-70. https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/ article/S0195-6701(13)60012-2/abstract


14 Wilson J, Prieto J, Singleton J, O’Connor V, Lynam S, Loveday (2015) The misuse and overuse of non- sterile gloves: application of an audit tool to define the problem. J Infect Prev. 16:1, 24-31. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5074137/


15 Cochrane J, Jersby M (2019) When to wear personal protective equipment to prevent infection. British Journal of Nursing. 28:15, 982-984. https:// www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/pdf/10.12968/ bjon.2019.28.15.982


16 Kramer A, Schwebke I, Kampf G (2006) How long do nosocomial pathogens persist on inanimate surfaces? A systematic review. BMC Infectious Diseases. 130:6, https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/ articles/10.1186/1471-2334-6-130


17 Riddell S, Goldie Sarah, Hill A (2020) The effect of temperature on persistence of SARS- CoV-2 on common surfaces. Virology Journal. 145:17,1-7 https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/


28 l WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM


articles/10.1186/s12985-020-01418-7


18 Hayden M, Blom D, Lyle E (2008) Risk of hand or glove contamination after contact with patients colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococcus or the colonized patients’ environment. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 29:2,149-154. https:// pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18179370/


19 Garvey M, Wilkinson M, Bradley C (2018) Wiping out MRSA: effect of introducing a universal disinfection wipe in a large UK teaching hospital. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. 155:7. https://aricjournal.biomedcentral.com/ articles/10.1186/s13756-018-0445-7


20 Landelle C, Pagani L, Harbarth S (2013) Is patient isolation the single most important measure to prevent the spread of multidrug-resistant pathogens? Virulence. 4:2,163-171. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654617/


21 Worby C, Jeyaratnam D, Robotham J (2013) Estimating the Effectiveness of Isolation and Decolonization Measures in Reducing Transmission of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Hospital General Wards. American Journal of Epidemiology. 11:1, 1306-1313. https://academic. oup.com/aje/article/177/11/1306/96528


22 Simon M, Maben J, Murrells T (2016) Is single room hospital accommodation associated with differences in healthcare-associated infection, falls, pressure ulcers or medication errors? A natural experiment with non-equivalent controls. J Health Serv Res Policy. 21:3,147-155. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4904344/


23 Shepherd E, Leitch A, Curran E (2020) A quality improvement project to standardise decontamination procedures in a single NHS board in Scotland. Journal of Infection Prevention. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ full/10.1177/1757177420947477


24 Royal College of Nursing (2017) Essential Practice for Infection Prevention and Control. https://www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/ publications/pub-005940


About the author


Yvonne Carter has been the clinical director at Gama Healthcare for over a year, and has over 37 year’s experience as the head of infection control at Royal Free London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.


FEBRUARY 2021


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