How To Manage an Outbreak of C. difficile

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Clostridium Difficile Infections (CDIs) are among the most common hospital acquired infections.

In this post we’ll discuss what C. difficile is and how it spreads. We’ll then explore how robust cleaning protocols and procedures can help you manage a C. diff outbreak.

What is C. difficile?

Clostridium difficile is a type of bacteria which usually lives harmlessly in your bowels. However, certain antibiotic treatments can change the balance of bacteria in the gut, which can trigger a C. difficile infection.

Symptoms of C. difficile Infection

Common symptoms of a C. difficile infection include:

  • Diarrhoea
  • Loss of appetite
  • Stomach ache
  • Nausea
  • High temperatures

How is C. diff Transmitted?

As one of the main symptoms of C. diff is diarrhoea, C. diff infections can spread quickly. When outside the body, the C. diff bacteria can turn into spores which are capable of surviving for long periods on hands, surfaces, objects, clothing, and linen.

Without regular washing and cleaning, it’s all too easy for these spores to transmit from a surface to a person’s mouth, which could result in an infection. For example, a person might touch a surface containing C. diff spores with their hand. They might then, without thinking, wipe their mouth with their hand.

Read our full guide to how communicable diseases spread.

What Places are Most At Risk of a C. diff Outbreak?

Any healthcare setting where patients or residents share facilities is particularly at risk of a C. diff outbreak.

This might include:

  • Care homes
  • GP clinics
  • Hospital wards
  • Dental surgeries

Who is Most At Risk of a C. diff Infection?

As well as people taking certain antibiotic treatments, people aged 65 or over are particularly at risk of C. difficile infections.

How to Manage a C. diff Outbreak

A person with a C. diff infection may carry an infection risk until 48 hours after their symptoms have passed. So ideally, anyone with a C. diff infection should stay at home until at least 48 hours after their symptoms have cleared up. Though in a healthcare setting such as a care home or a hospital, this might not be possible.

As a result, only stringent cleaning procedures and protocols can help prevent and control C. diff outbreaks:

  • Practice good hand hygiene. Staff should adopt the appropriate hand washing technique, and commit to washing their hands at certain key moments – such as before and after touching patients or their surroundings. You should also provide patients and residents with appropriate hand sanitiser so that they too can practice effective hand hygiene.
  • Clean the care environment as often as possible. Your cleaning procedures should already ensure you’re carrying out thorough cleaning at least once a day. But your cleaning procedures should intensify in the event of an outbreak, paying particular attention to any surfaces that people might touch, such as toilets, light-switches, and door handles.
  • Wash any contaminated clothes and sheets as soon as possible, and separately from other washing.
  • Advise visitors to take extra precautions – or to avoid visiting completely – for the duration of the outbreak.

Read our full guide to managing outbreaks in care homes.

How We Can Help You Manage a C. diff Outbreak

We stock an advanced range of highly effective cleaning and containment products that will help you prevent and control C. diff and other infections in your care setting.

Our range includes:

  • Virusolve+ Wipes – A one-step solution, all-in-one cleaner, sanitiser, and disinfectant that can kill C diff bacteria on surfaces in as little as 5 minutes. It then creates a residual barrier that can help prevent infection for up to 7 days. You can use them on any surface, including carpets, upholstery, and mattresses. Also available as a trigger spray and a concentrate.
  • Virusan – Antimicrobial hand sanitiser and hand scrub capable of removing up to 99.999% of the most common germs in less than a minute, designed to eliminate the risk of cross-infection from hand transfer within 30 seconds of application. Also available as a gel.

We also stock hospital-grade air purifiers. In the event of a C. diff outbreak, they can quickly and effectively catch and kill airborne spores, completely cycling the air in a room in as little as 12.5 minutes.

For more information about how we can help you manage C. diff outbreaks in your care setting, call us on 0333 015 4345 or email info@cairntechnology.com.

Infection Control Legislation For Care Homes

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In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how this legislation relates to infection prevention and control in care homes.

Relevant Legislation for Care Homes

If you manage a care home, you have a legal obligation to implement stringent infection prevention and control policies and procedures.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 gives the Care Quality Commission powers to enforce best practice regulations in all health and adult social care sectors.

You can read the full wording of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 here.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 only applies to England. There are different legislations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We are focusing on the English legislation in this post because it provides an effective introduction to how the regulatory systems works in the UK.

Regardless of the specific legislation that might apply, your obligations are effectively the same:  If you don’t prioritise your residents’ health and wellbeing, regulatory bodies can and will take action against you.

What Are Regulated Activities?

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 defines a “regulated activity” as “an activity of a prescribed kind”.

“Prescribed activity” essentially refers to activity that “involves, or is connected with, the provision of health or social care in, or in relation to, England”.

Regulation of Regulated Activities

The Act gives the Secretary of State powers to “impose requirements … necessary to secure that services provided … cause no avoidable harm to the persons for whom the services are provided.”

This includes making provisions and imposing requirements as to the:

  • Fitness of premises.
  • Keeping of records and accounts.
  • Management and training of anyone who works for the purpose of carrying out the regulated activity.

And crucially, the Act outlines that regulations “may make provision for the prevention and control of health care associated infections and may include such provision as … appropriate for the purpose of safeguarding individuals … from the risk, or any increased risk, of being exposed to health care associated infections or being made susceptible, or more susceptible, to them.”

The Act also gives the Secretary of State powers to issue codes of practice relating to health care associated infections.

What Happens If You Don’t Meet Infection Control Regulations?

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 makes it clear that you have a legal obligation to meet any codes of practice relating to infection prevention and control. If you do not meet these regulations, the Care Quality Commission can take action against you.

This might include:

  • Issuing notices outlining improvements you must make, and by when you should make them.
  • Imposing conditions or restrictions on your practices for a given time.
  • Putting special measures in place to supervise your activities.
  • Holding you to account through issuing cautions, fines, or even through prosecution.

You can read some examples of instances where the Care Quality Commission has used its powers of prosecution.

How To Meet Your Infection Control Regulatory Requirements

We’ve put together a number of guides to help you ensure effective infection control in care homes:

We specialise in supporting healthcare settings, including care homes, in the delivery of effective infection prevention and control policies:

Want to talk about how we can help you meet your infection control regulatory requirements? Get in touch to talk to one of our friendly experts today.

Dental Decontamination & Infection Control Checklist

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Just like any other healthcare setting, dental surgeries need to adopt numerous infection prevention and control measures. Key to this is understanding the key sources of infection, and the means by which infections might spread.

Key Sources of Infection in Dental Practices

Communicable diseases usually spread via direct contact with a person carrying the infection. Dentists and dental nurses work in very close proximity to their patients, and with each other. Such close contact can make cross-contamination more likely – whether that’s from staff to patient, patient to staff, or from staff to staff.

Yet pathogens can also survive on surfaces for hours, days, or months. A patient or a member of staff could quite easily pick up an infection through simply touching a door handle that an infected individual also happened to touch. But much more serious would be a dentist or a dental nurse using a contaminated device on a patient. Given the nature of dental treatments, this could easily introduce pathogens into the patient’s bloodstream.

How to Prevent and Control Infection in Dental Practices

Dental practices should follow the same Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) as other healthcare practitioners. These precautions include:

  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) policies – including using adequate PPE for the task at hand, and effective storage, handling, and disposal of any PPE used.
  • Good hand hygiene techniques – not just in terms of how to wash your hands, but also in terms of when you should do so.
  • Cough and sneeze etiquette – catch it, bin it, kill it.

Other key infection prevention and control precautions include safe management of the care environment, and of any equipment used on or around patients. In short, this means following robust cleaning and decontamination procedures.

Dental Decontamination & Infection Control Checklist

The NHS Infection Prevention and Control team recommends dental clinics perform weekly audits to ensure that they can maintain their environmental cleanliness standards.

Following a checklist could help ensure you don’t overlook any crucial areas of your dental practice.

Here are some things that your dental decontamination and infection control checklist could cover:

  • Reception and Waiting Areas
  • Corridors
  • Surgeries
  • Utility Rooms
  • Toilets
  • Storage (with separate checks for the cleaners’ storage room, and anywhere dental supplies are stored).

For each area, there should be at least two levels of checks:

  • Essential Check – The area is visibly clean, and free from any clutter or unnecessary items.
  • Thorough Check – A more detailed audit of any surfaces or items that might act as vectors for cross-contamination. Different areas of the clinic will require different checks. But in general, you should pay attention to anything that staff or patients might touch, and any surfaces where pathogens could thrive. This could include light switches, furniture, magazines, pictures, pamphlets, carpets, curtains, and so on.

Though high standards of cleanliness are essential throughout the dental practice, you’ll likely need to follow more stringent cleaning procedures in any areas where treatment take place.

You’ll find a good dental decontamination audit tool template on the NHS IPC team’s website.

Effective Decontamination of Dental Equipment

When it comes to dental equipment, dental staff must consider three separate levels of decontamination: cleaning, sterilization, and disinfection.

All dental equipment and devices will have different risk levels depending on how frequently they’re used, and where they’re used. This risk level will determine the level of decontamination required, and how often the decontamination procedure should take place.

Read our full guide to the three levels of decontamination for medical devices here.

Essential Support for Effective Infection Prevention and Control in Dental Practices

We stock a full range of highly effective hospital cleaning and containment products, including the powerful Virusolve+ range of wipes and concentrates. Browse our complete range of infection control products.

With our air purifiers, we can also help you trap and kill up to 99% of airborne viruses and bacteria in your dental surgery, along with up to 99.9% of potentially hazardous pollutants, such as VOCs, inhalable dust, and particulate matter. Browse our range of air purification solutions.

 

Environmental Decontamination: Stages & When to Implement

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In a healthcare setting, “environmental decontamination” refers to the process of thoroughly cleaning surfaces as part of effective infection prevention and control.

In this post we’ll discuss the various stages of environmental decontamination in hospitals and healthcare settings and explain when these should be implemented.

The Role of Environmental Decontamination in Infection Prevention and Control

Staff and patients carrying communicable diseases can shed pathogens in a number of ways. These pathogens can survive on surfaces for hours, days, and even months.

In this way, contaminated surfaces can contribute to the person-to-person transmission of pathogens in healthcare settings. This presents a serious risk for certain high-risk patients, including the elderly, the immunocompromised, and the immunosuppressed.

Patients from high-risk groups may be more likely to contract infections from contaminated surfaces. And if they do pick up an infection, they’ll be more likely to experience severe symptoms.

While manual cleaning can contribute to infection prevention and control, if the cleaning agent itself becomes contaminated with pathogens, then the cleaning process could actually contribute to the spread of infection. Environmental decontamination goes beyond surface level cleaning. It’s a strategy for removing and destroying infectious pathogens and contaminants.

The Three Stages of Environmental Decontamination

  1. Cleaning
  2. Enhanced cleaning
  3. Disinfection

Stage 1: Cleaning

The cleaning stage of the environmental decontamination process involves physically removing dirt, dust, and other contaminants from surfaces.

In most healthcare settings, cleaning should take place at least once a day.

Using a combination of mops, brushes, cloths and detergents, cleaning will remove the sort of organic matter from surfaces on which pathogens can take hold. However, it is unlikely to eliminate potentially harmful microorganisms entirely.

As such, cleaning might suffice for items and surfaces that will not come in direct contact with the patient.

Stage 2: Enhanced Cleaning

Some infection prevention and control procedures will call for enhanced cleaning processes. This might simply extend to an increased frequency of fundamental cleaning processes. Or it may call for the use of more specialised disinfectants or equipment.

In some areas of the hospital, such as an operating theatre, enhanced cleaning procedures may take place as a matter of course as part of a wider infection control protocol. Otherwise, enhanced cleaning might be recommended as a response to an outbreak of a communicable disease (such as norovirus); or as part of a containment response to a spillage (of bodily fluids, or chemicals etc.)

Stage 3: Disinfection

Enhanced cleaning may remove microbes and pathogens, but it will not necessarily kill them. Manual disinfection can actively reduce the levels of infectious agents in the area.

As with enhanced cleaning, disinfection may extend to simply making use of specific disinfectant agents as advised. And as with enhanced cleaning, disinfection might be standard practice in some healthcare settings, or it might be recommended as part of the response to a specific event.

For example, any surface contaminated with bodily fluids, such as blood or diarrhea, will require disinfection. Cleaning and enhanced cleaning processes will first serve to make the area visibly clean. Meanwhile, manual disinfection will serve to remove as many lingering microbes as possible.

Different Decontamination Procedures for Medical Equipment

As the name suggests, environmental decontamination is all about removing pathogens from the healthcare environment. This might involve floors, surfaces, windows, items of furniture, and so on.

When it comes to medical equipment – particularly items that might come into contact with a patient’s mucous membrane – healthcare workers must consider three separate levels of decontamination: cleaning, sterilization, and disinfection.

All medical equipment and devices will have different risk levels depending on how frequently they’re used, and where they’re used. This risk level will determine the level of decontamination required, and how often the decontamination procedure should take place.

Read our full guide to the three levels of decontamination for medical devices.

Essential Support for Effective Environmental Decontamination

We stock a full range of highly effective hospital cleaning and disinfectant products, including the powerful Virusolve+ range of wipes and concentrates. Browse our complete range of infection control products.

With our hospital-grade air purifiers we can also help you reduce the levels of airborne pathogens in your hospital, along with other potentially hazardous pollutants, such as VOCs, inhalable dust, and particulate matter. Browse our range of air purification solutions for healthcare settings.

How Does Infection Spread in a Hospital?

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In this post we’ll discuss how infections spread in hospitals and explore some ways you can prevent and control infections in your hospital.

Ways Infections Spread in Hospitals

Most hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) spread in one of two ways:

  • As a result of treatment.
  • From person-to-person, or via another communicable disease vector (pathogens on a surface, or in the air, for example).

You can read our guide to the most common hospital-acquired infections.

How Infections Spread as a Result of Treatment

Some hospital-acquired infections can spread as a direct result of certain medical treatments.

Examples include:

  • Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) – Invasive procedures involve making incisions in a patient’s skin. Though such procedures are performed in highly controlled sterile environments, it’s possible for incision wounds to get contaminated by microorganisms from the patient’s own body, or from outside sources.
  • Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) – diff bacteria can exist harmlessly in the bowel. But a course of antibiotics can sometimes cause a bacterial imbalance in the gut, triggering a CDI.

How Communicable Diseases Spread in Hospitals

A patient or a member of staff might bring an existing infection into a healthcare setting such as a hospital. Or a patient may develop an infection during their hospital stay while receiving treatment for an unrelated condition.

These are communicable diseases, and they can spread in a number of ways:

  • From Person-to-Person – Coughs, sneezes, and even touches can spread viruses and bacteria from person to person. CDI, for example, is a common hospital-acquired infection because a major symptom is diarrhoea, which can act as a vector for the spread of bacteria. And of course, during the 2020 pandemic it became clear just how quickly Covid-19 can spread from person-to-person in a hospital.
  • Indirect Contact – Viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens can survive for hours, or even days, on surfaces and inanimate objects. A patient may cough or sneeze into their hand. If they then use a doorhandle or a light switch, any staff member or patient who subsequently touches that item may pick up their germs. And if they then touch their mouth, nose, or eyes, they may introduce the germs into their bloodstream.
  • Contamination – Finally, eating or drinking contaminated food or water can spread communicable diseases. E. coli, for example, is a common hospital-acquired infection, and it can be contracted from eating undercooked meat.

How To Prevent The Spread of Diseases in a Hospital

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued recommendations that could help prevent SSIs in hospitals. These include a series of steps for the preoperative phase (including showering and nasal decolonisation), recommendations for staff and patient theatre wear, and a series of checks to make both before and after the procedure. Read the full NICE guidelines for preventing SSIs here.

When it comes to controlling communicable diseases, hospitals must follow the standard infection control precautions (SICPs):

These include:

  • Patient placement – Perform a comprehensive infection risk assessment for each patient, and isolate patients with a high risk of cross-infection.
  • Hand hygiene – Follow a specific hand-washing technique to thoroughly clean your hands at key touchpoints – such as before and after interacting with a patient and their surroundings. Also advise patients to follow good hand hygiene guidelines and provide plenty of handwashing stations throughout your hospital.
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) – There should be clear procedures for what PPE to use and when. You should also have procedures for storing, applying, removing, and disposing of PPE.
  • Cleaning – Commit to safe management of both care equipment and the care environment. Thorough cleaning should take place regularly and on an ongoing basis. You should also have specialist procedures for cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization in the event of outbreaks, and for high-risk equipment and environments.

Read our full guide to standard infection control precautions in hospitals and healthcare settings.

Control the Spread of Hospital-Acquired Infections

At Cairn Technology, we’ve been helping both NHS and private hospitals prevent and control infections for over 20 years.

We can help you with:

To discuss how we can help you prevent and control infection in your hospital, get in touch to talk to one of our friendly experts today.

 

How To Manage an Outbreak of Infection in a Care Home

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Any outbreak of infection in a care home must be considered a high-priority issue. Infections can easily spread in any location where people share facilities, and care home residents are high-risk groups: If they develop an infection, they’re more likely to experience severe symptoms.

What is an Outbreak?

The NHS defines an infectious disease outbreak as “when there are more people with the disease than you might normally expect.” There may be a different criteria for declaring an outbreak depending on the setting. When it comes to COVID-19 in a care home setting, for example, the NHS recommends declaring an outbreak when “there are two or more staff, residents, or visitors testing positive within 14 days of each other.”

If you don’t take steps to control an outbreak, the number of people infected could increase rapidly. This will have a huge impact on staff and resident wellbeing, and on the quality of care you’re able to deliver.

When is an Outbreak Over?

The NHS advises that you can declare an outbreak as over when 28 days pass without any new cases of the infection. Again, this advice is specific for COVID-19, but you can use a similar criteria for other infectious diseases in a care home.

What Are The Most Common Infections in Care Homes?

COVID-19 remains a major risk for care homes. But you must treat any outbreak of any infection just as seriously.

More than 50% of all care home infections can be linked to:

  • The influenza virus
  • Norovirus
  • Salmonella
  • Streptococcus Pyogenes

Read our full guide to the most common infections in care homes.

How To Manage an Outbreak of Infection in a Care Home

You should have dedicated policies and procedures covering your response to infection outbreaks in your care homes. These documents should be easily accessible for all staff, and you should review them periodically to ensure they reflect current risk levels and best practice guidance.

Your policy should include:

  • A list of the most common infections in care homes, along with some of the symptoms to look out for.
  • A definition of an “outbreak”. At what point will your outbreak response plan come into effect? Also define at what point you can declare that the outbreak’s passed.
  • Immediate response – what are the most critical steps to take once you’ve declared an outbreak? Think about who you’ll inform, how you’ll inform them, and what you’ll tell them. You’ll have to brief staff, inform residents, and contact their relatives too.
  • High-risk residents – some residents might have existing conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to infection, or they might be immunosuppressed or immunocompromised.
  • Your outbreak response policy should outline how you’ll shield your most high-risk residents, such as through zoning infected residents elsewhere in the care home and temporarily restricting any time spent in shared spaces.

Staff Training for Managing Outbreaks

Your staff should receive specialist training in managing outbreaks. The training should include:

Resident Zoning and Isolation

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it became common practice to isolate any patients who might be carrying an infection risk, to reduce the chances for the infection to spread from person-to-person. Similarly, any staff members testing positive were advised to self-isolate.

Your care home infection outbreak response policy should consider resident zoning and isolation. Ideally, you should have single rooms available for emergency quarantine. And in the event of an outbreak, you should carry out an infection risk-assessment for every resident, reserving your emergency isolation and zoning procedures for the most high-risk individuals.

At the same time, you need to consider your residents’ physical and psychological wellbeing. How can you continue to deliver a high quality of care even while they’re in isolation? How will you keep the resident and their visitors informed throughout their quarantine? And crucially, how long will the isolation last? At what point will they be able to safely mix again with the rest of the care home population?

For more information, and for actionable tips for managing outbreaks in your care home, be sure to read the latest Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England guidance on infection control in care homes.

Cleaning

Cleaning is an essential part of infection prevention and control. Pathogens can survive on surfaces for hours, or even days. So regularly cleaning your care home environment can significantly reduce the risk of cross-infection.

You should already have cleaning policies and procedures in place for your care home, outlining where to clean, how to clean it, what products to use, and how often to do so. Your cleaning policy should pay particular attention to any area of your care home where residents share facilities, along with any area where food is prepared or consumed.

In the event of an outbreak, you should implement even more robust cleaning procedures. This might involve carrying out more regular cleaning or switching to using specialist cleaning products that can kill viruses and bacteria on surfaces.

Be sure to read our full guide to effective environmental decontamination for infection control.

Air Purification

As well as lingering on surfaces, the viruses and bacteria that cause infections and outbreaks in care homes can also be airborne.

Good air filtration can actively contribute to infection prevention in care homes, while helping to prevent the spread of infection during an outbreak. Air filtration can even help prevent the spread of COVID-19. One study found that an air filtration system successfully removed almost all traces of the airborne virus in a quarantine ward.

Our range of HealthProtect air purifiers are specifically designed for healthcare facilities such as care homes. They can deliver complete air filtration every 12.5 minutes, trapping and killing up to 99% of viruses and bacteria – including those responsible for all of the most common outbreaks in care homes.

We can advise on effective infection outbreak management in your care home. As well as supplying specialist healthcare air purifiers, we also stock a full range of infection control products, including the Virusolve+ range of one-step cleaner, sanitiser and disinfectant solutions.

Get in touch to discuss care home infection outbreak management with one of our friendly experts.

The Most Common Hospital Acquired Infections

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In this post we’ll discuss some of the most common hospital acquired infections and explore the impact they can have on patient outcomes.

What is a Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI or HCAI)?

Healthcare associated infections (HAI, or HCAI) are infections staff and patients contract through spending time in healthcare settings such as GP surgeries, care homes, and hospitals.

Some of these infections can develop as a direct result of healthcare treatment. Others are communicable diseases, and can develop and spread from person-to-person, or when staff or patients come into contact with pathogens in the air or on surfaces.

The Most Common Hospital Acquired Infections

Surgical Site Infections (SSIs)

Surgical site infections (SSIs) may comprise up to 20% of all hospital acquired infections, with at least 5% of surgical patients developing a wound infection following their procedure.

They usually occur when surgical incisions are contaminated by microorganisms from the patient’s own body, though it’s also possible for patients to develop SSIs from outside sources.

Examples of SSIs include:

  • aureus
  • Salmonella
  • Shigella
  • Klebsiella
  • coli

SSIs can be life-threatening for patients, yet even mild infections can prolong hospital stays considerably. This can leave patients vulnerable to other hospital acquired infections while also creating a significant financial burden for the hospital. And when the NHS is facing such a huge backlog, anything that delays a patient’s hospital discharge should be considered a major issue.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a form of pneumonia, a respiratory tract infection. The infection results in lung inflammation and a build-up of fluid that can cause breathing difficulties.

All patients are vulnerable to this sort of infection, though young children and elderly patients are most at risk. Hospital-acquired pneumonia affects 0.5% to 1.0% of hospitalised patients, and it’s the most common hospital-acquired infection contributing to death.

MRSA is just one of the viruses and bacteria that can lead to hospital-acquired pneumonia. Other examples include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and certain fungi. Pneumonia acquired in hospital settings can be particularly serious, as the bacteria and viruses involved can be resistant to antibiotics.

Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) can lead to diarrhoea, high temperatures, low appetite, nausea, and stomach pains. Though C. diff bacteria is usually among the harmless bacteria that lives in the bowel, certain antibiotic treatments can cause a bacterial imbalance in the gut, which can trigger an infection.

As diarrhoea is a major symptom, it’s very easy for the bacteria to spread from person-to-person in a healthcare setting such as a hospital. It’s for this reason that CDIs are among the most common of all hospital-acquired infections, affecting over 100,000 patients across Europe every year.

Sepsis

Sepsis is a clinical syndrome that can be triggered by the presence of a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection. The body may respond to an infection in a way that damages its own tissues and organs, which can lead to low blood pressure and life-threatening organ dysfunction and failure.

The UK Sepsis Trust estimates that there could be up to 250,000 cases of sepsis in the UK each year. It is one of the most common causes of death among hospitalised patients in intensive care units (ICUs).

So sepsis might not be a hospital-acquired infection in itself. However, it’s a serious condition that can develop as a result of other hospital-acquired infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, bowel perforations, and skin infections.

Covid-19

Since 2020, hospitals have contended with an additional threat posed by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-VoC-2, or COVID-19).

One report found that, during the pandemic, more than 40,600 people were likely infected with Covid-19 while being treated in hospital in England for another reason.

Hospitals and other healthcare settings implemented strategies to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among inpatients. Some of these infection prevention and control practices may also help to prevent the spread of other hospital-acquired infections. However, this total focus on one condition may have given other pathogens an opportunity to thrive.

Controlling the Spread of Hospital-Acquired Infections

Every member of staff should follow a series of practices to reduce the risk of infection. These are known as Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs). You can read our full guide to SICPs.

At Cairn Technology, we’ve been helping both NHS and private hospitals prevent and control infections for over 20 years. Our solutions include:

Want to discuss how we can help you control infections in your hospital? Get in touch to talk to one of our friendly experts today.

What is Infection Control in Care Homes?

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When it comes to infection, elderly people and other care home residents are high-risk groups. This means that, if they catch an infection, they’re more likely to experience severe symptoms.

This isn’t the only reason why infections are a major concern in care homes. Infections can easily spread in any setting where people share facilities. Plus, given how vulnerable residents are to infection, any outbreak is likely to lead to mass hospitalisation. The health service is already overburdened and facing a serious backlog. An outbreak in a care home could place further strain on a system that already seems stretched to breaking point.

What is Infection Control in Care Homes?

Infection control in care homes means taking the time to understand the common infections, and how they’re spread, before acting to prevent this spread as much as possible. In this post, we’ll explore some of the key principles of infection control in care homes.

What Are The Most Common Infections in Care Homes?

The most common infections in care homes include:

  • Flus and colds
  • Norovirus and other stomach bugs
  • Salmonella

And of course, care homes must now contend with seasonal variants of Covid-19. Care homes were hit particularly hard throughout the 2020 pandemic. And though the latest variants are not as deadly as the initial few, they still present a significant risk to care home residents.

Read our full guide to common infections in care homes. This guide also explores, in greater depth, the link between care home outbreaks and hospital bed shortages.

An Essential Introduction to Infection Control in Care Homes

Infection control in care homes begins with understanding the common infections and their symptoms. Some care home residents may be unable to communicate that they’re feeling bad. Others might be unwilling to discuss their health, as they might not want to make a fuss. It might be up to you and your staff to spot infections, and to act accordingly.

So look out for some key symptoms of the most common care home infections:

  • Coughs, sneezes, and runny noses.
  • Breathing difficulties.
  • Irritated eyes.
  • Skin conditions, including rashes and blisters.
  • Vomiting and nausea.
  • Shivering (which could indicate a fever).
  • Loss of appetite and low energy levels.

Invest in Staff Training

Every member of staff should be able to spot the signs of infection. They should also have a thorough understanding of how infections spread, as this will help them adopt measures that can help prevent the spread.

In short, coughs and sneezes spread infections directly. But infectious diseases can also spread in indirect ways – such as when two residents use the same utensil, or item of furniture. Read our full guide to how communicable diseases spread.

Infection Control Policies and Procedures

Your care home should have dedicated policies and procedures in place for managing infections. These should be in writing, and they should be reviewed routinely, and easily accessible to all members of staff.

Here are some things you should include in your infection control policies and procedures:

  • Reporting – If a member of staff suspects they’ve spotted an infection, what immediate action should they take? Who should they report to, and what can they do in the short-term to reduce the risk of cross-infection?
  • Cleaning – As viruses and bacteria can linger on surfaces for hours, stringent cleaning procedures are an essential part of infection control in care homes. Your policy should outline the specific cleaning procedures for every area of your care home, paying particular attention to any area where residents gather and share facilities, and any area where food’s prepared and served.
  • Zoning – You may have to isolate any residents who catch an infection, to reduce the risks of cross-infection. Your policy should outline how you manage this process. How will you inform the resident? How will you continue to deliver the same quality of care during their quarantine? And how will you inform their friends and relatives?
  • Personal protection equipment (PPE) – Your policy should outline what sort of PPE your staff wear, and when they wear it. It should also define procedures for storing PPE, and for both applying it and taking it off to reduce the risk of cross-infection. Read our introduction to appropriate PPE use.

Hand Hygiene and Cough & Sneeze Etiquette

Finally, there are two strategies that both staff and residents can adopt to prevent and control infections in care homes:

  • Hand Hygiene – Staff should thoroughly wash their hands at numerous key points: before interacting with a resident, after interacting with a resident, and after handling any potentially contaminated items. Residents too can be encouraged to wash their hands as often as possible, including before meals and after using the toilet.
  • Cough and sneeze etiquette – Staff should encourage residents to cover their noses and mouths whenever they need to sneeze or cough. You could provide ample tissues, with lots of bins so that residents can “catch it, bin it, kill it.” And of course, you should encourage residents to wash their hands immediately after coughing or sneezing.

Support For Infection Control in Care Homes

At Cairn Technology, we specialise in supporting healthcare settings, including care homes, deliver effective infection prevention and control policies.

Here’s how we can help you stop the spread of infectious diseases in your care home:

Want to talk about how we can help prevent infections and improve the air quality in your care home? Get in touch to talk to one of our infection control experts today.

 

Three Levels of Decontamination For Infection Control

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In this post we’ll explore each of these levels of decontamination in turn, discussing the procedures involved, and when they’d apply in a hospital or healthcare setting.

What Are The Three Levels of Decontamination For Infection Control

There are three levels of decontamination for infection control:

  • Cleaning
  • Sterilisation
  • Disinfection

Healthcare Equipment Risk Levels

All healthcare equipment carries a different level of contamination risk, and this level determines the appropriate decontamination procedure:

  • Low Risk – Items that will only come into contact with intact skin, or which will not come into contact with the patient at all. Examples include furniture, floors, bedding, clothing, and IV pumps.
  • Medium Risk – Items that will come into contact with the patient’s intact mucous membranes. Also, items that are likely to be contaminated with virulent or transmissible organisms, and any item that might be used on an immunocompromised patient.
  • High Risk – Items that will penetrate a patient’s skin or mucous membrane, or enter the vascular system. Also, any item taken into a sterile space must be considered high risk.

Cleaning is usually sufficient for decontaminating low risk items. Medium risk items will have to be either disinfected or sterilised before use. High risk items need to go through the complete process – cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation.

When Should Medical Decontamination Procedures Take Place?

Reusable medical equipment should be decontaminated after it’s been used on a patient, and before it’s used on another patient. Following decontamination, equipment should be labelled and dated to confirm that it’s clean and ready for use.

Different departments might have to follow different cleaning procedures and protocols, depending on the sort of patients they treat, and the sort of treatments they carry out. An operating theatre, for example, will have to follow much more stringent cleaning procedures than a waiting room.

Also, decontamination is just one of 10 standard infection control precautions (SICPs) that hospitals and healthcare settings should follow. Read our full guide to the 10 SICPs.

Cleaning

Cleaning is the lowest level of decontamination, but it’s still vitally important for preventing and controlling infection. It essentially involves using a mix of water, detergents, and friction to remove dirt and organic matter from surfaces and objects.

Cleaning removes microbes, but it doesn’t necessarily kill them. So any object that might be used as part of an invasive procedure will have to be disinfected or sterilised after being cleaned.

To be considered “clean”, all visible signs of soiling must be removed. Medical equipment should be “visibly clean” before it’s ready for use.

We have detailed guides to cleaning procedures suitable for different areas of the hospital:

Disinfection

Disinfection involves using chemicals, heat, or UV radiation to reduce the number of microbes on an object. While disinfection won’t remove every microbe on an object, it can reduce the number of microbes to a level at which they do not pose an infection risk.

Items must be clean – that is, “visibly clean” – before they’re ready for disinfection.

Standard disinfection procedures do not kill spores. Sterilisation is necessary to remove spores from an object.

Sterilisation

Sterilisation processes can remove all microbes from an object, including spores. It involves making use of chemicals such as ethylene oxide or hydrogen dioxide, or specialist equipment, such as an autoclave.

In order for an item to be considered “sterilised”, then all microbes must have been removed or destroyed. And as with disinfection, items must be thoroughly cleaned before they’re sterilised.

For more information about the three levels of decontamination, and how they might apply in practice in a healthcare setting, take a look at this official NHS guidance.

Effective Decontamination For Infection Control in Hospitals

We stock a full range of highly effective hospital cleaning and containment products, including the powerful Virusolve+ range of wipes and concentrates. Browse our complete range of infection control products.

The chemicals used in decontamination procedures can be toxic. So hospitals must comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations wherever these chemicals are used.

An air quality consultation will help you identify the exposure risks for staff and patients alike. Following the consultation, you’ll get a detailed report and actionable advice on the measures you can take to improve the air quality in your hospital.

A hospital grade air purifier can help you quickly and thoroughly improve the air quality in your hospital or healthcare setting. Our Blueair HealthProtect air purifiers are fitted with advanced HEPASilent technology. This is capable of catching 99.97% of particles down to 0.1 microns.

Take a look at our specialist air purification systems for hospitals.

Communicable Diseases & Examples of How to Prevent Spread

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In this post we’ll discuss some of the most common communicable diseases in the UK, with some examples of how patients and practitioners can help prevent their spread.

What is a Communicable Disease?

A communicable disease is any disease that can be passed from person to person, or from an animal to a person. They are disorders caused by organisms including viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites. People might also refer to communicable diseases as infectious diseases, or transmissible diseases.

What is a Non-Communicable Disease?

A non-communicable disease is a condition that cannot be passed from one person to another, or from an animal to a person. Examples include asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Common Communicable Diseases in the UK

  • Colds, flus, and Coronavirus
  • Norovirus
  • Sexually transmitted infections, including gonorrhoea, chlamydia, HIV and AIDS.
  • coli and salmonella
  • Hepatitis
  • Measles

How Do Communicable Diseases Spread?

Most communicable diseases spread via direct contact with a person or animal carrying the infection. Coughs, sneezes, kisses, touches, and sexual contact can spread viruses and bacteria from person to person. Communicable diseases can also spread from animals to humans through bites or scratches, or through handling animal waste.

Diseases can also spread via indirect contact. Viruses and bacteria can linger for hours, or even days, on inanimate objects such as doorknobs or toilet seats.

Finally, contaminated food and water can also spread communicable diseases. You can contract E. coli bacteria from eating undercooked meat, for example.

How to Prevent The Spread of Communicable Diseases

We all have a part to play in preventing the spread of communicable diseases.

Here are some steps that everyone can take to stop the spread of many common infectious diseases:

  • Get vaccinated. Vaccinations are available for most of the common infectious diseases. If you’re particularly at risk of certain infections, talk to your doctor about recommended vaccinations for you. For example, elderly people and other at risk groups can choose to take the annual flu vaccine to drastically reduce their chance of catching and spreading an infection.
  • Wash your hands. Develop good hand hygiene habits. It’s particularly important to wash your hands before and after preparing or eating food, and after using the toilet.
  • Practice cough and sneeze etiquette. Catch it, bin it, kill it. If you need to cough or sneeze, do so into a handkerchief, and immediately dispose of it afterwards. If you don’t have a handkerchief, cover your mouth or nose with your hands or elbow, then immediately wash your hands afterwards.
  • Stay home when you’re unwell. If you experience any of the common symptoms of communicable diseases, including coughs, sneezes, fever, nausea, diarrhoea, and skin rashes, then stay at home. Don’t go to work or school until your symptoms have cleared.

Preventing The Spread of Communicable Diseases in Hospitals and Healthcare Settings

Hospitals and healthcare settings must follow the standard infection control precautions (SICPs) to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

These include:

  • Patient infection risk assessments, and isolating patients with a high risk of cross-infection.
  • Good hand hygiene – following a specific hand-washing technique to ensure as thorough a clean as possible.
  • Use of personal protective equipment (PPE), with separate procedures for what PPE to use and when.
  • Safe management of care equipment and care environment, including thorough cleaning, disinfection and sterilization procedures.

Read our full guide to standard infection control precautions in hospitals and healthcare settings.

We Can Help You Prevent The Spread of Communicable Diseases in Your Hospital or Healthcare Setting

We stock a full range of highly effective hospital cleaning and containment products, including the powerful Virusolve+ range of wipes and concentrates. Browse our complete range of infection control products.

A hospital grade air purifier can help you quickly and thoroughly improve the air quality in your hospital or healthcare setting. Our Blueair HealthProtect air purifiers are fitted with advanced HEPASilent technology. This is capable of catching 99.97% of particles down to 0.1 microns.

Take a look at our specialist air purification systems for hospitals.