What steps will you take to break the chain of infection anytime sterile gloves are required
Understanding how the infection is spread is essential to our efforts to prevent and contain its spread, especially when there is no definitive treatment available. There are three modes of transmission: contact, droplet, airborne. Contact Transmissionoccurs when there is
physical contact between an infected person/contaminated object and another person.
When an infected person coughs, droplets can land on objects and surfaces around them. When another person touches these surfaces, their hands can get contaminated with the virus. If they touch their nose or mouth with contaminated hands, they can get infected. It is therefore essential to make hand hygiene a priority and wash your hands regularly. Droplet Transmissionhappens when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, and tiny drops from the infected person enter another person’s eyes, nose and mouth. Airborne Transmissionoccurs when small particles in the air (<5um in size) containing the virus are inhaled into a person’s respiratory system (Pan et al., 2019). Although one study has reported that the virus can remain viable in the air for up to 3 hours (van Doremalen et al., 2020), more research is needed to confirm if airborne transmission occurs with COVID-19. Certain conditions must be met in order for a microbe or infectious disease to be spread from person to person. This process is known as the chain of infection (CDC, 2016) which is shown in Fig 1. There are six steps in the chain of infection and transmission will only take place if all six links are intact.
If any of the links are broken then the infection will not occur. Infection Control principles are aimed at breaking one or more links in this chain. Prevention StrategiesTo prevent and of viruses, WHO recommends employing basic hygiene principles through standard and transmission-based precaution. Standard precautions include:
precautions include: use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), including gloves, aprons or gowns, eyewear, face shields and face masks. Hand Hygiene – 5 Moments of Hand Hygiene
Washing Hands with Soap and Water RegularlyHand washing thoroughly with soap and water is one of the best ways to prevent you or someone you know from getting infected. Washing your hands frequently helps to remove potentially harmful microorganisms from your hands which helps stop the spread of infection. The recommendations for washing your hands by following the 12 steps shown in the image below. Using Hand SanitiserWhen you don’t have access to soap and water, using hand sanitiser containing at least 60% alcohol, such as PrimeOn Hand Sanitiser is a great way to ensure your hands are clean. Make sure to check the bottle’s label for the kill log rate to see how effective it is. When using hand sanitiser, make sure to follow the steps below:
Cough and Sneeze EtiquetteAs droplets from coughs and sneezes travel up to 2 metres, these simple steps can help to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Individuals with symptoms of acute respiratory infection should practise cough etiquette by maintaining distance with others. Where possible, close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections should be avoided.
Routine Environmental CleaningTo break the chain and prevent infection, it is important to be more mindful about the surfaces we touch and to keep those surfaces clean. It is recommended to enhance the cleaning and disinfecting of a patient’s environment. Healthcare workers should wear gloves and PPE when in a patient’s surrounding and clean high-risk areas to prevent any potential spread of the infection.
Reference List: Pan, M., Lednicky, J. and Wu, C., 2019. Collection, particle sizing and detection of airborne viruses. Journal of Applied Microbiology, [online] 127(6), pp.1596-1611. Available at: Shaban, R., Sotomayor-Castillo, C., Radford, K., Bell, S. and Malik, J., 2020. COVID-19 And Breaking The Chain Of
Infection. [online] Hospitalhealth.com.au. Available at: . van Doremalen, N., Bushmaker, T., Morris, D., Holbrook, M., Gamble, A., Williamson, B., Tamin, A., Harcourt, J., Thornburg, N., Gerber, S., Lloyd-Smith, J., de Wit, E. and Munster, V., 2020. Aerosol and surface stability of HCoV-19 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to SARS-CoV-1. MedRXiV, World Health Organization. Global Surveillance for human infection with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). World Health Organization, 2020. What are the steps that must be taken to apply sterile gloves?The hands are gloved and must only touch sterile devices or the previously disinfected patient body area. Grasp the outside edge of one cuff with gloved hands, avoid touching the wrist. Pull the glove off, turning it inside out and place it in your hand.
How can the process of hand washing help to break the chain of infection?Washing your hands with soap and running water loosens, dilutes and flushes off dirt and germs. It's very important to remember to dry your hands completely after washing. Damp hands pick up and transfer up to 1000 times more bacteria than dry hands.
How do gloves prevent the spread of infection?Gloves help keep your hands clean and lessen your chance of getting germs that can make you sick. Wear gloves every time you touch blood, bodily fluids, bodily tissues, mucous membranes, or broken skin. You should wear gloves for this sort of contact, even if a patient seems healthy and has no signs of any germs.
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