Saturday, November 1, 2008

How Hospitals Can Avoid Infection Through Infection Control

In the hospital, it is expected to have the most number of viruses and bacteria that came from different cases of diseases. It is a normal thing to know that the hospital can be considered as one of the most virus contaminated edifice in one place. These facts have become the driving force of all medical people so to make the hospital always sanitized and infection free by means of an effective infection control system. Both the government and other concerned groups are making the effort to have all hospitals in the country infection free. The government has released regulations pertaining to the maintenance of the cleanliness in all hospitals while all hospital administrators have their own way of addressing infection related cases.

Doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel are taught on how to control infection from spreading. Even from schools, nurses are taught of the proper way of washing their hands and other parts of their bodies. They are also required to use infection control supplies such as masks, PPE, gloves, etc. All the used medical paraphernalia are being subject to strict quarantine and cleaning and all the equipments are sterilized. Used surgical supplies such as cottons, gauze, threads, etc, are also disposed correctly at a designated area.

Patient segregation is done in all hospitals and generally apply in cases that are being grouped according to gender. Special cases, such as burns, cancers, and other communicable diseases are separated from the others. Children below a designated age are also separated from adult patients. In the wake of the SARS virus, the government ordered that all hospitals should have their own designated quarantine area in order to protect other patients from being contaminated by the said virus. All of these things are ways of controlling spread of infections in the hospital.

Cleanliness of the surrounding is the key to control the spread of infection in the hospital. No matter how good the medical practitioners are if the surroundings are not clean, chances are that even these practitioners can be contaminated. There are specifically used infection control products to clean hospital premises. These are concentrated cleaning agents that can kill even the smallest germs alive.

The cleanliness of the hospitals in the country is monitored by a government control agency to ensure that patients are well protected against any unwanted contamination of infections inside the hospital. OSHA or Occupational Safety and Health Administration also requires all hospital personnel to have their own personal protective equipments and that the hospital must be equipped with ready cleaning facilities.

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