Comparative Analysis of Australian Infection Control Policies

This essay provides a comparative analysis of infection control policies in New South Wales (NSW) and Tasmania, Australia, focusing on strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The essay examines the two-tiered approach of NSW's policy, including standard and additional precautions, and contrasts it with Tasmania's infection control guidelines, which emphasize hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment, and safe handling of sharps. The essay highlights the importance of these policies in ensuring patient safety and outlines future aspects, concluding that the NSW policy is more advanced and comprehensive while the Tasmanian policy offers ease of implementation. The essay also references key studies and guidelines to support its analysis, providing a detailed overview of the different approaches to infection control in the two states.

Running head: POLICY ANALYSIS
Policy Analysis
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1POLICY ANALYSIS
Introduction
Health care related infection is one of the most common source adverse outcomes for the
patients suffering from various type of diseases and in most of the cases the infection is
reported in the hospital care setting. The health care related infections (HAI) among the
patients is very crucial to control in a proper manner as HAI can also cause various other
adverse events among the patients. It is recommended, in order to prevent such conditions in
the health care settings, there must be proper policies and procedures and each of the
hospitals and health care organizations are liable to secure the health condition of the patients
by implementing those policies and they have to follow all the guidelines for the infection
prevention process as well. In order to prevent such conditions in the health care settings, the
states of the Australia have structures a few policies and guideline in their respective states as
well. Therefore, it is quite evident that, the main goal of those policies is to prevent the health
care related infections in the hospitals (NSW Health , 2017).
In this essay, the infection control policy of the New South Wales and the policy
guidelines of Tasmania regarding the infection control are discussed and compared in a brief
manner. The main goal of the NSW infection control policy and the Tasmania Infection
Control Guidelines is to ensure the health and safety of the all patients. This infection control
strategy of the NSW is completely based on the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000
and according to this act, all the employees of the hospital are liable to provide safe health
care environment to the patients. On the other hand, the Tasmanian Infection control policy
introduced the Tasmanian Infection Prevention and Control Unit (TIPCU) in the health care
system of the Tasmania in order to develop a procedure to identify the possible source of
infection.
Comparison between Two Policies

2POLICY ANALYSIS
Infection Control Policy of NSW
The Government of NSW also constructed an infection control policy in order to
mitigate the effect of the infections in the clinical care settings of the hospitals and other
health care facilities of the states. Unlike the Tasmanian Infection control policy, the NSW
infection control policy has a two-tiered approach. In the first tier, there are various
precaution methods that are mainly designed for the care of the patients without considering
the infection status of the patients. These precaution practices are referred to as Standard
Precautions and it helps in constituting the minimum acceptable level of infection control
practices. The second tier includes the specific precautions that are only applicable for the
special patients and these are known as Additional precautions. Hence, it can be said that, the
infection control policies of the two states are different in terms of the structural formulation
as well (NSW Health , 2017).
Another important policy of the NSW infection control policy is associated with the
hand hygiene practices among the health care professionals and this policy is quite similar
with the policies of the Tasmania. Like Tasmania, it is also suggested that the use of soaps
and running water is very crucial for the hand hygiene practice. However, the hand hygiene
practice of the NSW is better as there in this policy, the clothing practices of the health care
providers are also considered and the frequency, duration , type of work are also considered
in this policy unlike the Tasmanian Policy for infection control. As part of the hand hygiene
practice, the drying of hands are also considered in the policy of NSW and on the contrary,
the Tasmanian policy has no such considerations as well. Along with this the use of
dispensers that is dispensers along with the disposable cartridges and nozzles are preferred in
the policy of NSW unlike the policy of Tasmania (NSW Health , 2017). Not only this, but the

3POLICY ANALYSIS
policy of the NSW also promote the hand hygiene practices of the family members of the
patients as it is reported in the study of Banach et al.(2015), that the infection can be
transmitted through the visitors of a hospitals as well. From the policy of the Tasmania, it
can be said that there is no such considerations in the policy of the Tasmania. Therefore, both
the policies emphasizes on the use of hand gloves during the performances of various
activities in the health care settings. The use of face masks, gowns are also mentioned in the
policies of NSW and on the contrary, the policies of Tasmania do not promote such practices
in their policies as well. In both the policies, the use of disinfectant is mentioned in a well
manner (NSW Health , 2017).
The use of flash sterilization is also mentioned in the policy of NSW unlike the
infection control policy of Tasmania. According to the study of Gupta, Vanathi and Tandon
(2015) it is reported that the use of flash sterilization in the hospital care settings is one of the
crucial methods of minimizing the infections in the health care settings. Therefore, this
technique is mainly used in case of emergency situations in the clinical care settings.
While analysing the advantages of the policies it can be said that, the policy for
controlling infection in NSW is much advanced in terms of the policy considerations,
multimodal approaches of infection control, different type of infection control strategies as
well. As a whole it can be said that, the policy of the NSW for controlling infection in the
health care setting is more complex and more effective in nature than that of the policy of
Tasmania. On the other hand, while analysing the policy of Tasmania, it can be said that, it is
very advantageous to have an easy infection control policies in the context of implementation
of the policies as well. However, lack of modified and advanced technologies can be
identified as one of the disadvantages of the Tasmanian Infection control policy (NSW
Health , 2017)..

4POLICY ANALYSIS
Infection Control Policies of Tasmania
Like all other infection control policies of all other states of Australia, Tasmanian
infection control policy also focuses on the improvement of the safety related issues of health
care system. In order to prevent the infection in the health care settings, the Tasmanian
Government has introduced a new control unit for the infection control system in the hospital
setting. This new unit named Tasmanian Infection Prevention and Control Unit (TIPCU) is
mainly focusing on the positive aspects of infection control practices of the states. In order to
control infection in the various rural and urban areas of the Tasmania, the TIPCU has formed
a new procedure for examining the infection control process in the hospitals of rural and
urban areas of Tasmania. As a part of this, the TIPCU has also formed an Infection Control
Assessment Tool (ICAT) that can be used by these services in combination with TIPCU.
According to the report of Tasmanian Health Department, it is reported that, in Tasmania,
almost 2312 cases of HAI in every year (Wells, Wilson, Mitchell, 2012). The emergence of
the various bacterial strains which are resistant to the antibiotics, have made the task difficult
for controlling the infections in the health care settings. The infection control policies of
Tasmania mainly focus on a few aspects of the infections in the health care settings. The
primary area of focus are as follows-
According to the study of Kingston, O'Connell and Dunne (2016), it is reported that,
maintaining of a good hand hygiene practices among the health care providers in the hospital
care setting is very crucial for improving the condition of the HAI. As per the infection
control guideline of the Tasmanian Government it is reported that hand hygiene is one of the
crucial reason for HAI and so maintenance of hand hygiene is very crucial. The guideline
suggests that, it is very crucial to use alcohol or water during the cleaning of the hands.
Whenever, any individual touches the animal or coughs and sneezes, goes to toilet, then the
individual must have to wash the hands with alcohol or with soaps and running water

5POLICY ANALYSIS
(Kudavidnange, Gunasekara and Hapuarachchi, 2015). The same principle is also applicable
for the individual if the individual helps any patient in taking meals or medication and along
with this, the health care providers in the hospital setting should also clean the hands after the
touching any type of body fluids of the patients in order to prevent any kind of contamination
(Wells, Wilson, Mitchell, 2012).
The use of personal protective equipment or gloves in the hospital care settings is very
crucial as it is one of the major source of the HAI in the hospitals. According to the study of
Harnoss et al. (2014), it is reported that, most of the cases lack of use gloves among the
health care professionals is one of the major reasons of infection. It is the duty of the nurses
and other health care providers to maintain the safety condition of the hospitals settings. The
use of hand gloves among the nurses will help them to have protection from any kind of
contaminated fluids of the patients’ body. The policy suggests that, before and after using the
gloves, the nurses or the health care persons must wash their hands and the gloves must be
disposed.
Another crucial infection prevention policy of the Tasmanian Government focuses on
the infection related to the needle stick injuries that is injuries that is happened among the
nurses due to the gloves puncture of the nurses during handling any kind of needles that is
already used for the patients. For improving this condition, the nurses should follow all the
processes regarding the infection controls. They should use the cap of the needles
immediately after the use of the needles and it may reduce the cases of needle stick injury
among the nurses and thereby reduces the infection cases among the hospital settings. Along
with this, the nurses and other health care professionals must follow the standard guidelines
for disposing the gloves and needles in a proper manner (World Health Organization, 2014).
As per the guidelines of the Tasmanian Government, it is reported that the used needles must
be kept in a sharp container complies with any of the following standards of Australian

6POLICY ANALYSIS
Government- AS 4031-1992 Non-Reusable Containers for the Collection of Sharp Medical
Items used in Healthcare Areas, or AS/NZS: 4261-1994 Reusable Containers for the
Collection of Sharp Items used in Human or Animal Medical Applications (Wells, Wilson,
Mitchell, 2012). Moreover, in order to manage the needle stick injuries among the nurses in
the hospital settings, all the injuries must be reported in a quick manner and there must be
adequate actions related to blood borne diseases so that the risks can be minimized. In order
to prevent those injuries, the use of disposable gloves, use of disinfectants are recommended
as well.
Another policy that is very crucial for the prevention of the infection in the hospital
care settings, it is recommended that the health care providers must use waste bags so that the
used equipment can be put into those bags and those used materials must be disposed in a
proper way in order to prevent the infections in the hospital care setting as well (Wells,
Wilson, Mitchell, 2012).
Future Aspects of the Policies
From the aforesaid discussion, it can be easily stated that the infection control policy
of the NSW is more relatable to the current context while comparing this policy of Tasmania.
From the current scenario, it can be stated that, the policy of the NSW for controlling the
infection in the hospital care setting, is more sustainable. From the policy of the NSW, it is
reported that the policy recommends the use of modern techniques and technologies in
improving the hand hygiene practice among the care providers of the health care settings. The
use of modern technologies in the infection control practices can help this policy to be stable
in upcoming years as the policy promotes technological advancements in the health care
settings. With the advancement of the technologies, it can be said that, in near future, the
health care professionals must have to use technology based equipment for maintaining the

7POLICY ANALYSIS
infection control mechanism in the hospital care settings as well (Clinical Excellence
Commission , 2016). This technological advancement will be an added advantage to the
policy of NSW related to the infection control in near future and thereby enhancing the
sustainability of the infection control policy of the NSW. Along with this, there are other
factors that can promote the sustainability of the NSW infection control policy. Moreover,
the current governm4mtal policies and the decisions of the government is also promoting the
sustainability of the current policy of the NSW infection controlling system. According to the
fact sheets of the Australian Government, it is reported that, in the current financial year that
is in the year of 2018-19, the federal government of Australia granted budget for various
kinds of project related to the improvement of the health care sectors in the
country(Australian Government, 2019). From the previous year data of the Government of
Australia, it is reported that in each financial years, the amount of financial allowance is
enhanced by the federal government of Australia. The National Health Reform Agreement
Funding also allows more funds in the health care facilities of the Australia. Hence, it can be
said that the more allotment of funds in the health care facilities of the country will help the
policy to be more sustainable in near future as well. This political aspects of the company
also enhances the sustainability of the policy by promoting more funds to the health care. The
MBS funding project of the Australian Government also is included in the budget of
Australia in the 2019-20 financial years as well (Australian Government, 2019). According to
the study of Dixit and Sambasivan (2018), the government of Australia also promoting the
sustainability of the health care sectors by entering into the National Health Reform
Agreement regarding the arrangements for the funding and management of public hospitals in
Australia. This system allows more public hospitals to participate in the sustainability
program of the policies. Environmental aspects of the policy can impact the sustainability of
the policy in near future as over dependency of technology in this policy may impact the

8POLICY ANALYSIS
sustainability of this policy (Australian Government, 2019). The use of technology in the
policy may enhance the longevity of the policy as use of technology in the health care setting
will ease the process of infection control in the health care settings. The use of technology
will help the health care workers will help them to improve the outcome and also to keep the
records of the previous infection control process for future records. This modern technology
will promote the sustainability of the policy. However, the poor technological knowledge
among the employees of the health care settings may impact the sustainability of the policy in
a negative manner as it will reduce the impact of technology use in the infection control
system in the health care settings of the country (Brusaferro et al., 2015).
Recommendation and Conclusion
Therefore, it can be said that, there are various aspects in the health care infection
control system and those factors can be easily improved by implementing the a few
recommendations in the infection control system in the health care settings. As a
recommendation, it can be said that, poor technological knowledge among the health care
workers can affect the quality of infection control system in the health care settings. So, it can
be said that, there should be awareness program and training program for the employees of
the health care settings and it can be said that, the enhancement of the technological
knowledge among the health care workers will improve the condition of the technology use
in the infection control policy (Han et al., 2015). In case of the Tasmanian Policy, it can be
said that there should be more use of the technology in that policy as from the infection
control policy of Tasmania, it can be observed that in that policy no technological
advancement is endorsed. Apart from that, it is also recommended that, before using any kind
of technological help in the infection control system in the infection control policy of
Tasmania, there should be a proper training program that can help the health care providers to

9POLICY ANALYSIS
use the technologies in the infection control system as well (World Health Organization,
2016).
Therefore, it can be concluded that, the infection control policies are very crucial in
terms of preventing the health related infection among the people of the health care settings.
In order to minimize the effect of HAI, it is very crucial to form various policies related to the
infection control in the health care settings,. Hence, the infection control policies of the NSW
and Tasmania is quite similar with each other. However there are a few flaws and drawbacks
in the policies of the Tasmania while comparing it with the policies of the NSW. Hence, a
few recommendations can be given in order to improve the condition of the infection of the
health care settings.

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