- The infection prevention and control professionals at our facility have designed a coordinated infection prevention and control program to protect everyone who comes into our facility, including patients, healthcare workers and the public.
- Our program incorporates evidence-based practices from leading authorities in infection prevention including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). In addition, we comply with regulations from government agencies such as the state and local health departments, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as accrediting bodies, such as the Joint Commission.
- The essential elements of an infection prevention and control program to prevent the transmission of resistant organisms, including MRSA, include:
- Rigorous hand hygiene practices – that ensures that healthcare providers clean their hands before and after giving patient care.
- Use of contact precautions, such as gloves, gowns and separating MRSA patients from other patients to prevent transmission of MRSA
- Evironmental and equipment cleaning and decontamination, especially items that are close to patients such as bedrails and bedside equipment
- Monitoring the cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of instruments and equipment used for patient care
- Targeted active surveillance cultures – testing of certain patients to identify those who are carriers of MRSA
- Staff education on the prevention of transmission of resistant organisms such as MRSA
- Additionally, in order to ensure patient safety, our staff are trained to identify a breach in infection prevention and control practices and to intervene if such practices are identified.
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