Chapter 3: Lab Role in Infection Control Flashcards
HAIs and Iatrogenic infection causes:
- Use of instrumentation
- Increased use of antimicrobial agents – select for
resistant microbes - Failure of aseptic techniques
- Lack of hand hygiene
Types of acute care hospital HAIs:
- Surgical site infections
- Central line-associated bloodstream infections
- Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
- Ventilator-associated pneumonia
Surveillance:
Collection of data surrounding a disease or event, analysis, interpretation
Infection prevention and control programs in healthcare facilities are mainly concerned with:
Health-care associated infections, which are tracked by increase in incidence (site, risk factor, procedure)
Total surveillance:
all infection recorded, analyzed, risk-assessed
Targeted surveillance:
close watch of specific, high-risk, high-volume
risk assessment
Infection rate:
Speed of spread of frequency of an infectious disease within a population, usually compared with baseline data
Baseline data:
Previously ascertained data on infection rates, normal rates
Outbreak:
Upward trend of infection above baseline data
Culture review:
Increases number of particular genus and species of bacteria, increased number of antibiotic resistant bacteria
Specimen type:
Culture site, hospital unit, procedures
Data mining:
Using database to statistically analyze infections
Laboratory support:
– Identify isolates
– Specimen contamination rates
– Types of pathogens isolated from specimens
– Prevalence of particular pathogens
Improvements to care:
– Reduce cost associated with contaminated specimen
– Educate professionals in specimen collection and
specimen quality
Education: Laboratory Scientists and IPCPs
– Maintain knowledge of infection control and
laboratory techniques
– Keep IPCP educated on the role of the laboratory
in the infection control program
Education: Ancillary personnel
– Cleaning and disinfectant measures and
effectiveness
– Identification of mold
Hand hygiene:
Handwashing, alcohol hand rubs
Standard precautions:
gloves, waste disposal, vaccination/disease testing, treating all samples as infectious
Point to remember:
- Microbiology laboratory interacts with infection
control programs - Surveillance is important to establish baseline data
and recognize the need to investigate outbreaks - Microbiology laboratory supports outbreak
investigations - Responsibility to report to notifiable diseases to
the appropriate agencies - Education is necessary to keep up to date with
techniques and reemerging and emerging
infectious disease identification
