Nursing Review: Isolation Precautions

 

Standard Precautions / Universal Precautions

Applies to ALL BODY FLUIDS

Includes:

1.      HAND WASHING

2.      Personal Protective Equipment

(sequence of removing PPE’s)

gloves-mask-gown-eyewear-cap

3.      Safe use of sharps

4.      Removing spills of blood and body fluids

5.      Cleaning and disinfecting equipment

Transmission Based Precautions

• Airborne precautions

1. A single room under negative pressure ventilation with a wash hand basin
2. The door must be kept closed at all times except during necessary entrances and exits.
3. Disposable paper towels
4. A high efficiency mask, if available, should be worn when entering the room of a patient with known or suspected tuberculosis.

• Droplet precautions

Put on a standard mask prior to entering the isolation room. 

Hands must be washed with an antiseptic preparation and must be dried thoroughly with a disposable paper towel or washed with a waterless alcohol hand rub/gel:

1.      AFTER contact with the patient or potentially contaminated items, 

2.      AFTER removing gloves, and

3.      BEFORE taking care of another patient.

• Contact precautions

1. Non-sterile, disposable gloves are needed when there is contact with an infected site, with dressings, or with secretions.
2. A mask when performing procedures that may generate aerosols or when performing suctioning is recommended.
3. Hands washing (see droplet precautions)