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Category: Infection Prevention Essentials

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Infection Prevention & Control Principles

What is it? The aim of infection prevention and control is to prevent or minimise the risk of infection transmission to residents, employees, contractors, volunteers, and visitors.  All employees should know how to access infection control policies and procedures relevant to their position. Education on infection prevention and control is...

Understanding Infection

How do infections spread? Infectious agents may be spread to and from residents, employees, visitors, instruments, equipment, or the environment. The level of risk relates to the type of clinical contact healthcare workers have with potentially infected or colonised residents, instruments, or the environment, and the health status of the...

Classification of Infection

Infection is defined as the 'invasion of tissue by pathogenic organisms'. It is clinically manifested by inflammation (redness, pain, swelling, and heat) and/or the formation of pus.  Community-acquired infection is any infection that is either apparent at the initial examination on admission to a facility, or that begins less than 48...

Surveillance of Infection

What is it? Surveillance is the active, ongoing observance of the occurrence of infections within the facility.  Surveillance data on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) must be reported to the highest management level on a regular basis.  The four primary functions of surveillance are Collection of relative data Consolidation of collected data Evaluation...

Lookback Investigations

What are they? If there has been a breakdown in an infection prevention and control procedure or protocol, a 'lookback' investigation may be necessary to rule out the transmission of an infectious disease through complications, errors due to medical devices or products, or outbreaks with pathogenic organisms. An initial assessment is...