Infection control is a leading priority in many healthcare organizations. Infections are among the leading sources of morbidity and mortality and also among the top cause of death in healthcare settings. Infections are global health concerns and need to be properly managed. The measure that my organization is currently using to control infections is environmental hygiene. However, various measures could be implemented beyond environmental hygiene to deliver safe healthcare services and avoid the spread of infection. One of the measures is proper hand hygiene. Proper hand washing is a simple procedure yet the most effective protection against the spread of infections (Grayson et al., 2018). The healthcare organization should encourage the staff and patients to regularly their hands with soap and water as the first-line defensive technique against infection contamination and spread.
The other measure is screening and cohorting patients. Considerable political and community concerns have been raised due to the failure of various approaches to prevent the control of infections leading to significant morbidity and mortality (Haque et al., 2020). Therefore, strategies such as active surveillance cultures (ASCs), contact seclusion of patients infected with infections, and preventive isolation of high-risk patients can be adopted to reduce infections. The other measure is surveillance. The organization should consider using surveillance to track and address infections before they spread (Cheng et al., 2020). Public health surveillance connotes a continuous systematic gathering, analysis, interpretation, and diffusion of data concerning health-related incidence for application in public health initiatives to minimize morbidity, and mortality, and enhance health. Surveillance information about infections can be utilized to inform alert initiatives; enhance performance, techniques, and competence creation; evaluate the scope, rise, and status of infections; and assess, scan, and monitor the trends of infection rates.
References
Cheng, V. C., Wong, S. C., To, K. K., Ho, P. L., & Yuen, K. Y. (2020). Preparedness and proactive infection control measures against the emerging novel coronavirus in China. Journal of Hospital Infection, 104(3), 254-255. https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(20)30034-7/fulltext
Grayson, M. L., Stewardson, A. J., Russo, P. L., Ryan, K. E., Olsen, K. L., Havers, S. M., … & National Hand Hygiene Initiative. (2018). Effects of the Australian National Hand Hygiene Initiative after 8 years on infection control practices, health-care worker education, and clinical outcomes: a longitudinal study. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 18(11), 1269-1277. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30491-2
Haque, M., McKimm, J., Sartelli, M., Dhingra, S., Labricciosa, F. M., Islam, S., … & Charan, J. (2020). Strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections: a narrative overview. Risk management and healthcare policy, 13, 1765. Doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S269315