EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFESSIONAL

Epidemiological Professional

The Life of an Epidemiological Professional

Overviews of epidemiological evidence (Gould, 1991, Sharir, 2001) have shown that hand washing techniques are often inadequate and infrequent, and that the quality of hand washing is more important than the quantity (Van der Broek et al. 2001). These conclude that hand medicated transmission is a major contributing factor in the current infection threats to hospital patients. According to RCN guidelines (1995) hands should be washed: before and after any duty which involves close contact with a patient; before and after aseptic technique or invasive procedures; after contact with body secretions/ excretions; after handling contaminated laundry or equipment; after removal of gloves, masks and aprons; before administration of food, drink and drugs; and at the end of a span of duty.

Precautions adopted to destroy pathogens, prevent the spread of infection and to protect patients against infection during their stay in hospital, include the use of barrier nursing and the aseptic technique. These are adopted to increase the patient's resistance to infection, to eradicate the sources or potential sources of infection and to minimise, or if possible stop, the means of bacterial transfer to the uninfected patient.

The idea of barrier nursing is to keep an infectious patient, and materials they have been in contact with, apart from vulnerable others. This can be achieved by isolating the patient in a single room or by isolating a number of infectious patients in a purpose built ward. Another method used is to isolate patients whose immune systems are severely depressed thereby protecting them from harmful organisms. This is usually referred to as reverse barrier nursing.

Aseptic technique is the use of sterile equipment and fluids, when carrying out any invasive procedure that breaches the body's normal anatomical defences, to prevent contamination of wounds and other vulnerable sites by pathogens ...