Nursing Guide for Effective Implementation of Infection Control Precautions

ISSUE: It is imperative to provide nursing with an easy guide for proper implementation of infection control precautions in order to avoid delays and unnecessary exposures. PROJECT: To improve compliance with our medical center precautions program, a new sign was developed that allows the floor nurse to implement precautions accurately. The sign includes the three current categories of Transmission Based Precautions: airborne, droplet and contact. Once the physician indicates the suspected or confirmed disease requiring precautions in the admission order sheet, the nurse locates an instruction packet containing the new sign. Our hospital also has a system for notification to nursing on readmissions of patients with certain MROʹs which require precautions. image The sign is color coded by type of precautions and includes a chart on the back that provides the necessary information categorized by disease to select the appropriate precautions. The nurse finds the disease on the back of the sign and marks the appropriate option in the front of the sign. The sign is taped to the door of the patientʹs room and small version of the sign is taped to the patientʹs chart to aid communication between departments. The guide on the back of the sign provides additional information describing room placement, required personal protective equipment, indicating whether the door is open or closed, patient transport and discharge management. RESULTS: This new 8 × 11 sign was developed as a reference guide to provide information and education for the accurate implementation of Transmission Based Precautions avoiding delays and confusion. LESSONS LEARNED: The use of a reference guide on the back of the precautions sign provides information for health care workers to apply precautions in a timely manner, promotes a better Infection Control program compliance as well as saving time for the Infection Control staff.