Outbreak Flashcards
What does HAI stand for?
Heathcare associated infection
What is a healthcare associated infection?
Infection you might catch when getting healthcare in the hospital or community
What are the most common infections in hospitals?
Urine infections, infections after surgery, skin infections, sickness and diarrhoea
What is a hospital acquired infection?
Infection after being in hospital for more than 48 hours
What are the most common hospital acquired infections?
- UTI (23%)
- Mainly related to catheterisation
- Surgical site infection (19%)
- Respiratory tract infection (18%)
- Bloodstream infections (11%)
- GI infection
- Skin and soft tissue infection
What is an outbreak?
An infection defined as 2 or more cases of an infection linked in time and place
What does IPCT stand for?
Infection, prevention and control team
What is the purpose of the IPCT?
Prevent infections and outbreaks
What are the steps in the chain of infection?
1) Infectious agent
2) Reservoir
3) Portal of exit
4) Transmission
5) Portal of entry
6) Susceptible host
What are examples of infectious agents?
- Bacteria
- Virus
- Fungi
- Prion
What are examples of reservoirs?
- Humans
- Equipment
- Environment
- Food
- Animals
What are examples of portals of exit?
- Blood and body fluids
- Skin scales/wound
- Coughing and sneezing
What are examples of modes of transmission?
- Direct or indirect
- Inhalation
- Ingested of contaminated
What are examples of portals of entry?
- Skin/surgical wounds
- Eyes or mouth
- Respiratory tract
- Intestinal tract
- Tubes
What are examples of things that make people susceptible hosts?
- Underdeveloped immune system
- Decreasing immune system
- Drugs or disease
- Tubes
What are ways of breaking the chain of infection to stop outbreaks at the infectious agent phase?
- Diagnosis and treatment
- Antimicrobial stewardship
What are ways of breaking the chain of infection at the reservoir phase?
- Cleaning
- Infection prevention
- Pest control
What are ways of breaking the chain of infection at the portal of exit phase?
- Hand hygiene
- PPE
- Personal hygiene
- First aid
- Removal of catheters and tubes
What are ways of breaking the chain of infection at the mode of transmission phase?
- Hand hygiene
- PPE
- Food safety
- Cleaning
- Isolation
What are ways of breaking the chain of infection at the susceptible host phase?
- Immunisation
- Treatment of underlying disease
- Health insurance
- Patient education
What are the 5 points of hand hygeine?
1) Before patient contact
2) Before aseptic procedure
3) After body fluid exposure
4) After patient contact
5) After touching patient environment
What does TBPs stand for?
Transmission based precautions
What are some examples of transmission based precautions?
- Contact
- Gloves
- Apron
- Masks
- Eye protection
What are some airborne precautions for isolated patients?
- Report to the nurse in charge before entering the room
- Decontaminate hands before entering the room
- Wear disposable apron, FFP3 respirator, eye/facial protection and gloves before entering this room
- Keep door closed
- Decontaminate equipment prior to removal from the room
What are some droplet precautions?
- Report to the nurse in charge before entering the room
- Decontaminate hands before entering the room
- Wear disposable apron, resistant surgical mask, eye/facial protection and gloves before entering this room
- Door closing risk assessment
- Before leaving
- decontaminate equipment prior to removal from the room
- discard gloves, resistant surgical mask, eye/facial protection and apron in a healthcare waste bin
- decontaminate hands
What are some contact precautions?
- Report to the nurse in charge before entering the room
- Decontaminate hands before entering the room
- Wear disposable apron and gloves before entering this room
- Door closing risk assessment
- Before leaving
- decontaminate equipment prior to removal from the room
- discard gloves and apron in a healthcare waste bin
- decontaminate hands
What are the different kinds of airborne transmission?
- Droplet
- >5um
- Spread assumed to be around 1m
- Drop to ground
- Aerosol
- <5um
- Much more widespread
- Remain suspended in the air
Compare and contrast droplet and aerosol transmission?
- Droplet
- >5um
- Spread assumed to be around 1m
- Drop to ground
- Aerosol
- <5um
- Much more widespread
- Remain suspended in the air
What is the smallest size of an object that the human eye can see?
40um
What is cleaning?
Physical removal of organic material and decrease in microbial load
What is disinfection?
Large reduction in microbe numbers
What is sterilisation?
Removal/destruction of all microbes and spores
What cleaning method is used for low risk, medium risk, and high risk things?
- Low risk
- Intact skin contact such as stethoscopes, cots, mattresses
- Cleaning with manufacturer’s instructions
- Medium risk
- Mucous membrane contact such as bedpans, vaginal specula, endoscopes
- Cleaning with disinfection or sterilisation as appropriate
- High risk
- Surgical instruments
- Cleaning with sterilisation
What are some methods of disinfection?
- Heat
- Pasteurisation (such as bedpans, linin, dishwaters)
- Boiling (vaginal specula, ear syringes)
- Chemical
- Chemicals vary in their organism activity
- Examples are alcohol, chlorhexidine, hypochlorites, hydrogen peroxide
What are some methods of sterilisation?
- Steam under pressure (autoclave)
- Hot air oven
- Gas (ethylene dioxide)
- Ionising radiation
What are different types of surveillance?
- Local surveillance
- Laboratory based
- Ward/clinical area based
- National surveillance
- Examples are E. Coli (2016), MRSA bacteraemia (2006)
What is the purpose of surveillance?
To detect and identify possible outbreaks at earliest opportunity
