Infection Prevention Strategies for High-Risk Areas in Hospitals and Aged Care Facilities
There are around 165,000 healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)1 in Australian health facilities each year, making them the most common complication affecting patients in hospitals.
Now consider that intensive care patients have a 5-10 times higher risk2 of healthcare-associated infections
Excellent infection prevention and control (IPC) practices are essential to promote patient safety and reduce the risk of HAIs – particularly in high-risk areas, such as Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and surgical wards, where the convergence of vulnerable patients and invasive medical procedures creates an environment conducive to the spread of infections.
However, documenting these procedures is not enough to mitigate the threat of infections. The success of your infection control strategy relies on one crucial element: people
Regardless of location or position, staff, patients, and visitors all play a critical role in reducing HAIs. If they don’t understand and adhere to the protocols, the strategy falls down, putting patients at risk. The challenge is ensuring everyone has what they need to play their role effectively.
This article will explore four strategies to empower and enable staff, managers, patients, and their families to ensure effective infection prevention in high-risk areas.
Mitchell BG, Shaban RZ, MacBeth D, Wood CJ, Russo PL. The burden of healthcare-associated infection in Australian hospitals: a systematic review of the literature. Infection, Disease & Health. 2017 Sep 1;22(3):117-28.
4 Infection Prevention Strategies for High-Risk Areas
1. Continually educate staff
One of the cornerstones of an effective IPC strategy in high-risk areas is the strict adherence of all staff to protocols.
Rewind to the COVID-19 pandemic, where hospital and aged care workers’ adherence to newly updated guidelines became even more critical. Using personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and face shields, the separation of patients, and stricter cleaning routines became part of everyday routines almost immediately.
These strategies, like those in high-risk areas, can be difficult and time‐consuming to adhere to. But education and awareness can help ensure staff not understand what they need to do, but why they need to do it.
In a study conducted by The Cochrane Collaboration after the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare workers believed they followed IPC guidance more closely when they saw its value. If staff don’t understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, they are less likely to follow the guidelines.
In the study, healthcare workers said there was a lack of training about the COVID-19 virus and how to use personal protective equipment (PPE). They also highlighted the problem of training not being mandatory.
This is where technology is a valuable tool. Online platforms can deliver targeted and interactive training, giving staff a practical understanding of infection control measures and allowing them to apply this knowledge effectively in their day-to-day responsibilities. Platforms can also deliver real-time updates when protocols change, ensuring that staff remain well-informed and up-to-date with the latest infection prevention measures and the reasons behind them.
To ensure staff complete mandatory training for high-risk areas, managers can use online platforms to see when staff have completed modules, making it easier to follow up with individuals.
2. Improve visibility for managers
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7173761/
Managers play a crucial role in overseeing infection control strategies and ensuring their effective implementation. But their success depends on having visibility of their workforce.
When it comes to cleaning, managers need complete oversight of their workforce to ensure their staff are allocated enough time for high-risk areas, such as ICUs and surgical wards. This is where workforce management software becomes a valuable tool, giving managers the ability to make sure staff spend the right amount of time in the right places.
Technology also allows managers to track and monitor staff compliance with infection control protocols. With sophisticated platforms, managers can monitor the progress of tasks and receive real-time updates on task completion, ensuring that no area is overlooked. A visual floor plan can also give managers an overview of the facility, making it easy to identify and locate cleaning staff.
Beyond day-to-day workforce management, managers can use software to get detailed insights into cleaning performance, infection control measures, and staff feedback to identify areas for improvement and optimise cleaning strategies to reduce HAIs.
Support staff with adequate resourcing
Infection control in high-risk areas of hospitals and aged care facilities comes with increased workloads, which can overwhelm staff. In the aforementioned study by The Cochrane Collaboration, healthcare workers described how their responses to IPC guidelines were influenced by the level of support they felt they received from their management team.
So, how can managers better support workers?
The answer lies in resource management. Healthcare facility managers must ensure sufficient resources are available to fully support their IPC program and not stretch staff beyond capacity.
High-risk areas require a higher level of infection control, which means more time adhering to cleaning and hygiene protocols. To ease the burden, managers can use workload management tools to see where more resources are needed, change schedules as required, and ensure their team has the support they need to comply with specific infection prevention and control protocols.
Engage patients and families
Patients and their families are integral components of the infection control strategy. As with staff, educating them about the importance of adherence to hygiene practices and infection prevention measures is the first and most important step.
Staff should openly explain the infection prevention and control processes to patients and visitors, such as the importance of hand hygiene and reasons for wearing PPE. Also, fostering a culture of open communication between staff and patients is essential. Patients should be aware that they should never feel shy or intimidated to ask for more information about protocols. If they want to know why a particular item of PPE is being worn, they should feel comfortable to ask.
As with staff education, technology can be a handy aid for communication and collaboration. Easy-to-understand information can be delivered through online portals, informational videos, or interactive applications, or as an aid for staff to use while explaining protocols.
The transformative role of technology in infection control
The roles of staff, managers, patients, and their families are equally important for effective infection prevention, particularly in critical areas like ICUs and surgical wards. But their adherence to policies shouldn’t be left to chance. Hospitals and aged care facilities should expand the use of technology as part of their IPC strategies to educate teams, manage scheduling, and monitor cleaning thoroughness for high-risk areas.
Learn how ConnectPro by ASEPSIS can give you the tools you need to improve your infection control.