Infection Prevention in Alternative Health Care Settings

Abstract

SYNOPSISWith the changing healthcare delivery, patients receive care at various settings including acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient primary care and specialty clinics, as well as at home, exposing them to pathogens in various settings.Various healthcare settings face unique challenges requiring individualized infection control programs.Infection control programs in skilled nursing facilities should address: surveillance for infections and antimicrobial resistance, outbreak investigation and control plan for epidemics, isolation precautions, hand hygiene, staff education, and employee and resident health programs.Infection control programs in ambulatory clinics should address: Triage and standardtransmission based precautions, cleaning, disinfection and sterilization principles, surveillance in surgical clinics, safe injection practices, and bioterrorism and disaster planning for ambulatory clinics.

Infection control in the post-antibiotic era

“…Community health centres will create their own infectioncontrol strategies, with specialist nurses responsible for managing patients in a variety of community healthcare settings. 126 A framework of guidelines, policies and procedures for outbreak detection, contact tracing and intervention will be overseen by public health teams, supported by diagnostic laboratories and local clinical staff. 127 Mobile decontamination and cleaning firms will provide hygiene services for the community, with automatic drive-in washer-disinfectors for public transport and ambulances.…”

Clinic Reopening Post-Coronavirus Disease 2019: Precaution of a Plastic Surgery Clinic in China

“…The main objectives for us due to this outbreak are to control and eliminate the contagious sources, reduce new confirmed cases, and prevent further transmission. 1 As a private clinic, we effectively prevented the further transmission of COVID-19 and balanced the deficits after shutdown, so we would like to offer our experience in precaution when reopening clinics.…”

Infection prevention outside of the acute care setting: Results from the MegaSurvey of infection preventionists

“…1,2 The increasing complexity of patients, use of invasive devices and procedures, and increased prevalence of antibioticresistant infections has resulted in unique challenges to infection prevention and control (IPC) in nonacute settings. 3,4 In addition, outbreaks of health care-associated infections (HAIs), such as hepatitis C and parainfluenza virus, have been reported in these nonacute care settings. [5][6][7] For these reasons, there has been increased focus on IPC in these settings from accrediting and regulatory organizations.…”