Infection Control Measures And Disease Transmission Modes In The Workplace

Surface cleaning and appropriate sharps handling techniques

The equipment that is reused the most in the workplace is the water purifier that the entire staffs use many times during the day.

As the most of the infection threat is due to the hand and air borne bacteria, daily surface cleaning are performed to avoid contamination. Along with that, the staff are required to use antibacterial hand wash before using the water purifier to ensure minimal contamination (Mayhall 2012).

The four equipments that are used in the workplace daily are the coffee machine, water purifier, Xerox machine and the monitors; these equipments are reused multiple times every day and are regularly cleaned to avoid risk of contamination. A chemical used for the decontaminating the above mentioned equipments is alcohol.

4 infection control measures are:

• Regular hand washing prior to and post using food item vending machines, and before eating. This helps to avoid the risk of being contaminated by hand borne microbes.
• Regular decontamination of the floor and the equipments to ensure minimal exposure to any infectious agent
• Wearing masks when gloves when handling potentially contaminated objects like cleaning tools or mops while cleaning spillage, etc.
• Carrying and regularly using personal sanitizers, it will ensure optimal protection from any contamination (Webster et al. 2010).

Transmission based precaution can be defined as the additional infection control measures taken, that are specific for the transmission modes.

Two transmission-based precautions that are used in the workplace are:

• Meticulous hand hygiene practices, as I am a nursing professional, ,maintaining hand hygiene will help me avoid any risk of contamination while handling patients
• Wearing masks and gloves while dealing with body fluids will be extremely beneficial for my safety (Rosenthal et al. 2014)

10 techniques of handling and disposing sharp objects include:

• Using instruments rather than fingers while handling sharp objects like needles and scalpels
• Providing verbal warning when passing sharp objects
• Avoiding hand to hand passage of any sharp object
• Using basin or any other object for passing the sharp objects
• Replacing pointed tip scalpels with round tipped scalpels
• Strictly avoiding recapping any used or broken needle
• Disposing the used syringe needles or alike sharp object in appropriate container
• For re-usable sharp objects the container has to be puncture resistant
• Using air tight lidded containers for storing and disposing the sharp objects
• Using safety devices for the disposal of the sharp objects (Sydnor and Perl 2011)

1. The first step is to use absorbent material to soak up the fluid and contain it from spreading, in this case absorbent powder or paper towels can be used. The next step is pouring a broad spectrum disinfectant and leave it for 30 minutes before it is cleaned up and disposed. Post disposal disinfectant is poured to the spill area and wiped up using paper towels.
2. In case of large spills, there is high splash and spreading potential and in this case, both the absorbent powder and paper towels are used. A broad-spectrum disinfectant at higher concentration like 10% bleach is poured directly on the material and left for at least 20 to 30 minutes. The next step is to collect the material and dispose it in a trash bag, post this step disinfectants are poured on the spill area and are wiped off with paper towels twice (Mayhall 2012).

Sterile items must be stored in a dedicated area that is clearly and effectively sign posted. Along with that, the area must be regularly decontaminated and protected from direct sunlight, heat or humidity.

There are three key modes of transmission, Contact transmission, vector transmission and vehicle transmission.

Contact transmission: This transmission mode has two subtypes, the direct mode and indirect mode. In case if direct transmission, person to person transmission is the most frequent type or transmission and the mode of contact can be vertical, horizontal and droplet transmission. Influenza is a pathogen that is contact transmitted to the hosts, and the particular transmission source is the droplet transmission. In case of indirect transmission, inanimate objects or fomites are contaminated by the pathogen source and then is transmitted to the host by coming into its contact; common cold and cough is the example of indirect transmission and the source can be unsterilized medical equipments (Webster et al. 2010).

Vehicle transmission:  

This is transmission mode that utilizes the use of different vehicles for the passage of the pathogen to the host system like the water, food and air. Contaminated water due to faulty sanitation procedure, aerosol particles carrying pathogens, and contaminated food items due to faulty handling and storing are the main causes of vehicle transmission. A very good example of vehicle transmission is the infection of hantavirus to humans via droplet mediated airborne transmission.

Common terms: bacteria, infection, and pathogen

Vector transmission:

In this case, the transmission procedure is mediated by a biological vector such as an arthropod that carries the pathogen from one host to another. These vectors can be of two types, the mechanical vector that carried the pathogen without itself being infected by the pathogen. In addition, a biological vector, in this case the pathogen reproduces in the body of the vector itself. A mechanical vector can be a fly causing diarrhea by the means of superficial contact. Whereas, an example of biological; vector can be the mosquitoes causing malaria (Clements 2012).

Three examples of sterile items are needles, syringes, gloves.

The three infection control hazards:

1. Hospital acquired infection:

The staff working in the health care setting are regularly exposed to a myriad of different pathogens while handling the patents and caring for them. Not adhering to proper hand hygiene and infection control protocol will be extremely dangerous to the health and safety of the staff (Sievert et al. 2011).

1. Sharp object injury and infection:

In the health care setting, the exposure risk of sharp objects like needles, glass vials and scalpels are intensified multiple folds. Any injury with contaminated sharp object can lead to fastened infection procedure and can harm the professional.

1. Direct or vehicle transmission:

There are many instances where the health care professionals need to deal with  body fluids and contaminated air while caring for the patients. Not wearing proper personal protection equipments like masks and gloves may intensify the risk of contact or vehicle transmission of the staff (Bright and Bulgheresi 2010).

References: 

Bright, M. and Bulgheresi, S., 2010. A complex journey: transmission of microbial symbionts. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 8(3), p.218.

Clements, A.N., 2012. The biology of mosquitoes, Volume 3 Transmission of viruses and interactions with bacteria (Vol. 3). Cabi.

Mayhall, C.G., 2012. Hospital epidemiology and infection control. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Pommerville, J.C., 2012. Alcamo’s fundamentals of microbiology: Body systems. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Rosenthal, V.D., Maki, D.G., Mehta, Y., Leblebicioglu, H., Memish, Z.A., Al-Mousa, H.H., Balkhy, H., Hu, B., Alvarez-Moreno, C., Medeiros, E.A. and Apisarnthanarak, A., 2014. International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module. American journal of infection control, 42(9), pp.942-956.

Sievert, D.M., Ricks, P., Edwards, J.R., Schneider, A., Patel, J., Srinivasan, A., Kallen, A., Limbago, B. and Fridkin, S., 2013. Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens associated with healthcare-associated infections summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009–2010. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 34(1), pp.1-14.

Sydnor, E.R. and Perl, T.M., 2011. Hospital epidemiology and infection control in acute-care settings. Clinical microbiology reviews, 24(1), pp.141-173.

Talaro, K.P. and Chess, B., 2018. Foundations in microbiology. McGraw-Hill.

Tille, P., 2015. Bailey & Scott’s Diagnostic Microbiology-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Webster, N.S., Taylor, M.W., Behnam, F., Lücker, S., Rattei, T., Whalan, S., Horn, M. and Wagner, M., 2010. Deep sequencing reveals exceptional diversity and modes of transmission for bacterial sponge symbionts. Environmental Microbiology, 12(8), pp.2070-2082.