Residents
of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other long-term care
facilities need to be aware that even if they stay at the mentioned facilities,
they are still as prone to infections as they are outside.
You become
a resident to be taken care of and stay healthy during your late adulthood.
However, residents are still vulnerable to getting infections in a facility
while they are receiving care.
Imagine
a scenario where you were diagnosed with an illness and will be staying at a long
term care facility and start receiving care.
Thankfully,
you are told that you’re going to recover, but will spend some time in the
hospital. However, being in the hospital can also put you and other patients at
risk for a healthcare-associated infection (HAI), such as a blood, surgical
site, or urinary tract infection.
Remain Alert and Prepared
Every
day, residents get certain degrees of infections in healthcare facilities while
they are being treated for other conditions. These infections can have
devastating emotional, financial, and medical effects. Worst of all, they can
be lethal.
Healthcare
procedures can leave you vulnerable to germs that cause HAIs. These germs can
be spread in healthcare settings from patient to patient on unclean hands of
healthcare personnel or through the improper use or reuse of equipment.
These
infections are not limited to hospitals. For example, in the past 10 years
alone, there have been more than 30 outbreaks of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in
non-hospital healthcare settings such as outpatient clinics, dialysis centers,
and long-term care facilities, according to Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Preventive Measures are Necessary
As
part of the care for residents of healthcare facilities, the following are
recommended:
·
Be sure environmental services staff wear
recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against direct skin
and mucous membrane exposure of cleaning chemicals, contamination, and splashes
or spatters during environmental cleaning and disinfection activities.
·
Use a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA)-registered hospital disinfectant with a label claim for a non-enveloped
virus (e.g., norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, poliovirus) to disinfect
environmental surfaces in rooms of patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola
virus infection.
·
Avoid contamination of reusable porous surfaces
that cannot be made single use.
·
Routine cleaning and disinfection of the PPE
doffing area.
To
reduce exposure among staff to potentially contaminated textiles (cloth
products) while laundering, discard all linens, non-fluid-impermeable pillows
or mattresses, and textile privacy curtains into the waste stream and disposed
of appropriately.
Sources:
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