Infection Control in Healthcare: Focus Areas and Strategies

This document discusses the importance of infection control in healthcare and focuses on the strategies used to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. It explores the role of nurses and healthcare professionals in maintaining hand hygiene, using protective equipment, and implementing infection control programs. The document also emphasizes the need for effective communication and education in infection control practices.

LABORATORY
PORTFOLIO
INFECTION
CONTROL

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Identification of the focus areas and keywords use for studying chosen topic...........................3
Evaluation of the quality of sources............................................................................................4
Ability to search for the journal articles......................................................................................6
Ability to use the CSU Primo catalogue......................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Infection control is the discipline concerned with preventing nosocomial or healthcare-
associated infection, a practical (rather than academic) sub-discipline of epidemiology. It is an
essential part of the infrastructure of health care. Infection control is basically based on the five
basic domains that include maintaining adequate hand hygiene, wearing proper protective
equipments, injection safety, cleaning of environment and respiratory hygiene. Present report
will lay emphasis on communication skills required for health and medical sciences. Assignment
will also focus on able to demonstrate information, digital and academic literacy and numeracy
skills appropriate for health and medical sciences. It will also critique a scientific literature.
MAIN BODY
Identification of the focus areas and keywords use for studying chosen topic
Article 1: Infection-control update. (includes related articles) (Nursing Guide to Staying Safe,
part 2
Available from < https://primo.csu.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay?
vid=61CSU_INST:61CSU&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=gale_hrca1
5226138&lang=en&context=PC&adaptor=Primo%20Central&query=any,contains,INFECTION
%20CONTROL%20ARTICLES&offset=0>
Infection control is really necessary in order to protect the patient, health care staff and
nurses from spreading of contagious diseases. It has been analyzed that to control the infection, it
is really necessary for nurses and health care professionals to maintain hand hygiene and wear
PPE so that they can be prevented from the risk related to infection. It has been analyzed that
keywords that has been selected for the chosen topic includes infection, control, hand hygiene,
PPE, contagious disease, preventive measures and long term illness, occupational health. In this
article there are also various functions of the infection control practitioner that has been
evaluated like they are engaged in developing a reduction of risk plan so that the harmful
protocol does not spread. These practitioners are also been engaged in developing educational
tools so that safety and security can be provided to practitioners as well as health care staff.
Article 2: Infection prevention and control: Who is the judge, you or the guidelines?
Available from : < https://primo.csu.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay?
vid=61CSU_INST:61CSU&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=alma99101

3226206102357&lang=en&context=L&adaptor=Local%20Search
%20Engine&query=any,contains,INFECTION%20CONTROL%20ARTICLES&offset=0>
The focus are in this article is on assistance provided by nurses so that infection can be
preventive and also it improvise the health outcome of service users. It has also been analyzed
that the article focuses on the aspects of leadership that are really important for preventing the
risk and vulnerabilities related to infection. The article based on the topic was search by setting
the range. It was analyzed that the article older than 5 years were not being used in the research.
An only article that has been published in English Language has been used for the study. Article
has also provided with the details of one more focus area that includes that more in-depth
knowledge is required for analyzing the effectiveness of psychological skills that is been
required to control the infection. They keywords that are been used in order to search for this
article includes education, nurses, leadership, infection control and psychological skills.
Article 3: Australian Infection Control
Available from: < https://primo.csu.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay?
vid=61CSU_INST:61CSU&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=elsevier_sd
oi_10_1071_HI02036&lang=en&context=PC&adaptor=Primo
%20Central&query=any,contains,INFECTION%20CONTROL%20ARTICLES&offset=0>
The key words that have been used in the article are infection prevention and control,
HAI, IPC program, Hand hygiene, Antimicrobial resistance, IPC guideline, Surveillance,
Multimodal strategy. There area various strategies used by nurses to prevent the spread of
infection which has been discussed on the article. It includes that nurses must have knowledge
related to controlling the spread of infection in clinical care setting as well as community. This
strategy will help them in protecting those patients who are at high risk and vulnerable to have
infection. These strategies will help them in overcoming the service users from the risk of
contagious diseases.
Evaluation of the quality of sources
Ranking offerings: The decision to make use of both the articles was linked to the rank of both
the articles. Both the articles were effectively ranked so these were used in making the report.
Ranks have also helped in making better decisions.

Article 1: The article 1 has laid emphasis on the strategies that can be used in clinical care
setting to prevent the spread of infection. Infection control practitioner has laid emphasis on
maintain the hand hygiene by nurses as well as health care professionals. It is one of the most
important activities that can be used in order to have control over the spread of infection. Article
has evaluated that it is really necessary that nurses needs to de-contaminate their hands while
they are treating service users. It has been analyzed from the article that hand hygiene also
reduces the occupational risk that can be faced in clinical care setting. It has been analyzed from
the article that clinical care setting needs to implement better infection control program so that
risk related to contagious disease can be reduced.
This will also assist them in reducing the death ration and will support the health care setting
in saving money. Article has valuated that in order to implement this infection control program,
it is really necessary for hospital care setting to have a proper organizational structure. In this
they must commit to a culture of safety and must be engaged in motivating their staff members
to perform all the domains of infection control. It has been evaluated from the article that better
infection control policies must be launched by the clinical care setting and better adherence with
it needs to be done. Article has also laud emphasis on those nurses and health care professionals
must be provided with proper hand washing resources.
Alcohol and hand gel must be provided in each department. These approaches when
addressed by clinical care organization, then it can provide huge assistance to nurses so that they
can control the spread of infection. The other domain on which article has laid focus on includes
injection safety. It has been analyzed that health acre professionals must stop making use of the
outdated injections as it increases the risk of spread of infection. It has been analyzed from the
article that it is one of the major reasons for spread of diseases like HIV, influenza. This also
increases the risk of service users facing problems like Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and also they can
be exposed to blood borne pathogen. This can lay severe negative impact on the health outcome
of service user (Rosenthal, (2016). It can also reduce their quality of life. This means proper
injection safety must be maintained by health care professionals and nurses in order to reduce the
risk related to spread of infection.
From the article it can be reviewed that the educational opportunities for all infection control
practitioners are limited and also they are not provided with adequate resources that can assist
them in spreading of contagious disease. The article has evaluated the best practice that can be

used by IC and also specific recommendations for the infection control practice has been also
evaluated in the research setting.
Article 2: From the article 2 it has been evaluated that it is really necessary to have nurses
support in the prevention and control of infection in clinical care setting. It has also been
evaluated that leadership is also crucial so that nurses can gain success in the procedure of
controlling the spread of infection. The article has also laid emphasis on making the
organizational structure better and promoting the culture of safety so that they can protect the
staff members as well as the patients from the spread of infection that can cause service users
suffer from contagious diseases (Solomkin, et.al., (2017). Meta- analysis has been used in the
article as a method for gathering of information. Systematic literature has been conducted in the
article. The inclusion criteria have involved strengthening of an existing ICLN system. The
article has also provided with information that nurses needs to be engaged in having a better
communication so that they can interact with service users about how to take care of themselves.
It has been analyzed from the article that while treating service users it is really necessary for
nurses and health care professionals to wear proper protective equipments so that safety can be
provided to the patients who are at high risk of suffering from the infection.
Article 3: It has also been analyzed and evaluated from the article that nurses needs to be
engaged in decomposing the waste products like used injection, gloves properly so that the risk
related to spread of infection can be reduced. These strategies when performed by nurses can
assist them in saving the service users from contagious diseases. Article has also provided with
the details that all health care professionals are provided with the duty to train patients about the
various practices related to infection control. It has been analyzed that training must be done on
annual basis. This can provide support to nurses and health care professionals to improvise the
quality of life of service users (Mellmann et.al., (2016).. It will also support them in controlling
the spread of infection. The health care professionals also need to train patients as well as nurses
about all the principles that are linked with infection control. They also need to provide them
with details related to consequences of not following the domains based on control of infection.
The main role of health care professional is to provide support to nurses so that they can work
together in reducing the risk related to spread of infection.
Ability to search for the journal articles
Database Keywords Search options Number of Comments

article found
PLoS one Public library of
science
Data base for
searching article
5 In this only one
was useful.
Proquest
Research Library
Public library of
science
Data base for
searching article
7 In this only one
was useful
CSU primo
catalogue
Article on
infection control
Data base for
searching article
4 In this only one
was useful
I have undertaken the required number of data bases search to select the articles. I have also
made use of the key words so that the selected article can be selected. I have also set up the range
for selecting the articles. An article that was published in English language was only selected.
Article has also evaluated about maintaining a clean clinical environment. It has been
analyzed from the article that poor environment in hospital care setting is also one of the
elements that can contribute to the spread of infection (Parani et.al., (2016).. Thus it is really
necessary for clinical care setting to implement high standard of cleanliness so that the risk
related to spread of infection can be reduced. Nurses and health care professionals also needs to
be involved in making use of personal protective equipments so that the risk of cross infection to
service users and health care professionals itself can also be reduced. This can also protect them
from coming in contact of the hazardous chemicals. They also needs to make sure that injection
safety is also been performed by health care professionals. This means proper injection safety
must be maintained by health care professionals and nurses in order to reduce the risk related to
spread of infection. It has also been evaluated from the article that the use of outdated injection
has to be stopped as this can give rise to the various diseases like HIV, Hepatitis A.
This can reduce the quality of life of service user. It can also lay negative impact on the
health outcome of patients (Ku, TWalraven & Lee, (2018). It has been evaluated from the article
that all these strategies can only be successful with the help of nurse’s support. It has been
analyzed and evaluated form the article that proper training and resources must be provided to
nurses so that spread of the infection can be controlled. This can assist them in improvising the
health outcome of patients; it will help nurses in saving them from contagious diseases like HIV,
COVID-19. It has also been analyzed and evaluated from the article that barrier nursing can also

be one of the approach that can be used in order to provide protection to service users as well as
the clinical care staff who are been involved in treating patients.
The article has also evaluated that proper education strategies and training curriculums are
not being maintained by ICLN. This means all these needs to be maintained so that the infection
can be preventive. It has also been analyzed that nurses also have low psychological skills that
can be used by them for prevention of infection. Article provided that more research needs to be
done on this area.
Ability to use the CSU Primo catalogue
Infection control is one of the major practices that are being performed by health care
professionals as well as nurses to protect patients as well as health care staff from the spread of
infection that can give rise to various contagious diseases. It has been analysed and evaluated
form the articles that nurses must be engaged in having effective communication with the
patients as this can help them in making service users understand about the measures which they
need to take in order to save them from infection. This can assist them in having a control over
the spread of infection. The evaluation of these articles has assisted in increasing the awareness
of individuals about the health issues that has been faced by Australia throughout. It has been
analysed that the article was searched by making use of various key terms (Allegranzi et.al.,
(2017)..
It has also been analysed that only article published in English Language has been used. All
the two articles have provided the information that nurse’s assistance is really essential in having
control over the spread of infection. These articles has also laid emphasis on the making the
environment of clinical care setting clean as poor environment an increase the spread of
infection. It has been analysed that health care professionals can make use of various E-
educational tools so that they can provide training to patients and nurses digitally. These tools
can assist them in making service users know about the necessity of making proper hand hygiene
(Boswihi & Udo, (2018).
This aspect will assist them in improvising the health outcome of patients. It will also help
them in increasing the quality of life of service users and protect staff member from diseases.
Article has also laud emphasis on those nurses and health care professionals must be provided
with proper hand washing resources. Alcohol and hand gel must be provided in each department.
It has also been analyzed that patients who are been suffering from contagious diseases must be

provided and treated with making use of holistic and person centered approach. This can help
nurses and health care professionals in analyzing the problems that has been faced by the service
users. It has also been analyzed that nurse’s needs to make use of PPE so that they can reduce the
risk related to spread of infection.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that the focus area for infection control are the
strategies that has been used by nurses and health care professionals. It has been analyzed that in
order to control the spread of infection, nurses have made use of proper hand hygiene. It has
assisted them in reducing the spread of infection. It has also assisted them in protecting patients
from the risk related to most contagious diseases. It has also been analyzed from the report that
injection safety is also one of the domains related to infection control. In these nurses has
stopped making use of outdated syringe that can spread infection in service users. All these
aspects have supported the health care professionals in improvising health outcome of patients.
It has also been analyzed and evaluated form the report that nurses have also made use of
PPE so that they can control the spread of infection. It has also been analyzed form the report
that nurses use to make use of effective communication so that they can make service users
understand about the need of protective measures which must be taken by them so that they can
reduce the risk of spreading of infection. This has assisted nurses in improvising the health
outcome of service users.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Allegranzi, B., Kilpatrick, C., Storr, J., Kelley, E., Park, B. J., & Donaldson, L. (2017). Global
infection prevention and control priorities 2018–22: a call for action. The Lancet Global
Health, 5(12), e1178-e1180. < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29132606>
Ku, T. S., Walraven, C. J., & Lee, S. A. (2018). Candida auris: disinfectants and implications for
infection control. Frontiers in microbiology, 9, 726. <
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29706945>
Mellmann, A., Bletz, S., Böking, T., Kipp, F., Becker, K., Schultes, A., ... & Harmsen, D.
(2016). Real-time genome sequencing of resistant bacteria provides precision infection
control in an institutional setting. Journal of clinical microbiology, 54(12), 2874-2881. <
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27558178>
Solomkin, J. S., Mazuski, J., Blanchard, J. C., Itani, K. M., Ricks, P., Dellinger, E. P., ... &
Berrios-Torres, S. I. (2017). Introduction to the centers for disease control and prevention
and the healthcare infection control practices advisory committee guideline for the
prevention of surgical site infections. Surgical infections, 18(4), 385-393. <
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28541804>
Parani, M., Lokhande, G., Singh, A., & Gaharwar, A. K. (2016). Engineered nanomaterials for
infection control and healing acute and chronic wounds. ACS applied materials &
interfaces, 8(16), 10049-10069. < https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.6b00291>
Boswihi, S. S., & Udo, E. E. (2018). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: An update on
the epidemiology, treatment options and infection control. Current Medicine Research
and Practice, 8(1), 18-24. <
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322215131_Methicillin-
Resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus_An_update_on_the_Epidemiology_treatment_options
_and_Infection_Control>
Rosenthal, V. D. (2016). International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC)
resources: INICC multidimensional approach and INICC surveillance online system.
American journal of infection control, 44(6), e81-e90. <
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26975716>

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