Infection Prevention Manual

EXPOSURE CONTROL PLAN INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL ADDRESSING PRIORITIZED RISKS Purpose: To provide practical and effective steps to take to help reduce the risk of health care- associated infections (HAIs). Procedure: Designate a committee to oversee the infection prevention and control program. This committee helps identify program priorities, guide activities, support best practices, and meet infection control standards and regulations. In our Agency is a frequent topic for the patient safety and quality committee as well as other groups responsible for patient care, employee health, the environment and emergency preparedness. Assess infection risks in the organization. This includes issues related to patients, staff, the environment, different care settings and special populations as well as potential emergencies. Also included are risks associated with the geographic location and the community environment of the organization. This assessment systematically identifies Infection Committee priorities for the organization. In our community the more common issues are, but not limited to: * Respiratory Infections * Common and more dangerous flue * Pneumonia. Our Agency will monitoring, and print every month a current Health department report of the more common infections in our community. Our infection prevention and control plan is based on the prioritized risks. Include routine and special activities as well as methods for managing worst-case scenarios (epidemics). Incorporate goals and objectives to measure progress. We will keep the plan simple and use this process as an opportunity to involve leaders, caregivers, support staff and appropriate representatives from the community. We will educate clinical and administrative staff throughout the agency, and seek their participation in the design and implementation of the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) program. The Director of Nursing is engaged in and committed to the design and evaluation of the program, the more likely it is that goals will be achieved. We incorporate the infection prevention and control program as an essential component of safety and performance improvement. Integrating IPC in overarching organizational performance and safety plans ensures its position as an influential factor in achieving safe patient care. We develop and maintain a surveillance system based on sound epidemiologic principles. In conjunction with the infection prevention and control oversight committee, our agency develop a method to assess IPC practices, infection trends and vulnerable areas. Surveillance is a fundamental component of IPC and identify practices that can be improved. We use infection prevention and control data to guide practice and performance improvement. Analyzing infections, high-risk procedures, epidemiologically significant organisms, evidence- based practices and employee health issues unique to the Agency that help guide change. For example, we introduced a new infection control standard that requires to offer influenza vaccinations to staff, volunteers and licensed independent field staff with close patient contact. We also will collect and analyze immunization rates and implement methods to help improve compliance. Evaluate infection prevention and control practices: Once a program is established and implemented, it is essential to periodically evaluate whether goals and objectives are being achieved. What works one year may not work the next, and practices may need to change while new practices are introduced. We evaluating the program at least annually, and more often if appropriate, to help determine whether the IPC program is on target.