Needlestick and occupational exposure to infections: a compendium of current guidelines

Standard precautions are the minimum infection control safeguards used while caring for all patients, irrespective of their disease condition. They help prevent the spread of common infectious microorganisms to healthcare workers, patients, and visitors in all healthcare settings.
Hand hygiene is the most crucial means to prevent the transmission of disease. Employers are legally required to provide their workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimize exposure or contact with...

Essential infection prevention measures are based on the knowledge of the infection chain, the modes of transmission in healthcare settings, and the use of the best practices in all healthcare settings. Compulsory public reporting of healthcare-associated infection rates is needed to allow individuals and the community to make informed choices regarding selecting a healthcare facility.
The best practices for preventing healthcare-associated infections include hand hygiene, patient risk...

Transmission-based precautions are for patients infected or suspected to be infected (or colonized) with organisms posing a significant risk to others. The transmission precautions include airborne and protective environment precautions.
Airborne precautions:
Use airborne precautions when treating patients known or suspected to have diseases that spread through the air—for example, tuberculosis or measles. These organisms are present in smaller droplets expelled by an infected person and...

When a pathogen enters the body and reproduces, it can cause an infection, damage body cells, and cause illness symptoms that eventually lead to disease. Therefore, its prevention requires breaking the chain of infection.
The chain begins with pathogens: bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions, or parasites such as protozoa helminths. These can be present on the skin as transient or resident flora, or they can be acquired from the environment. Identifying and treating the type of infection and...

Transmission-based precautions are for patients known to be infected or suspected to be infected or colonized with organisms that pose a significant risk to others. Some transmission-based precautions include contact, enteric, and droplet.
Contact Precautions:
Contact precautions are the measures taken to prevent the transmission of infectious agents, especially epidemiologically important microorganisms such as MRSA or influenza, primarily transmitted through direct or indirect contact with an...

Donning PPE must be completed before contact with the patient. This process protects from infectious agents. The sequence and action included in each donning are critical, and the steps must be systematic to avoid exposure to pathogens. The institutional policy also needs to be followed while donning PPE. The pre-donning preparations are gathering equipment, inspecting the PPE equipment for tears, holes, or damage, removing jewelry, removing any garments below the elbows, and tying the hair...