Contact Precautions More Is Not Necessarily Better

Abstract

As the proportion of patients in contact isolation increases, compliance with contact isolation precautions decreases. Placing 40% of patients under contact precautions represents a tipping point for noncompliance with contact isolation precautions measures.

Improved hand hygiene compliance after eliminating mandatory glove use from contact precautions—Is less more?

“…The component of such precautions most frequently not complied with was HH prior to donning gloves and gown. 27 Although the study setting differed considerably from ours, both studies reinforce the need to rethink contact precautions, be it in terms of accommodating an increased number of patients on precautions or modifying isolation measures like we did.…”

Selfishness among healthcare workers and nosocomial infections: a causal relationship?

“…While compliance with contact precautions usually falls below 30% 5 , compliance with respiratory precautions in our hospital is almost 100% (data not published). We believe that the main explanation for this observation is the perception among healthcare workers that tuberculosis and meningococcal meningitis pose a real risk to themselves 6 , while infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or Acinetobacter baummanni, typically spread to only the hospitalized patients 7 .…”

Healthcare‐acquired infections: prevention strategies

“…Additionally, unintended detrimental impacts on patient care have been demonstrated. [53][54][55] No interventional study has compared MRSA or VRE acquisition rates with contact precautions versus standard precautions. Current data suggests if standard precautions are well adhered to, the incremental benefit of contact precautions is small.…”