Infection control and the nursing process--making the best use of resources

The approach to infection control is often 'bugs and drugs' (which organisms are controlled by which drugs), or 'rules, routines and rituals'. But the only fully effective way is the 'hands and human beings' approach, since it is their activities which make other approaches effective or ineffective. The nursing process is an aid to providing the nursing care needed by a person (or people) in their particular health situation. Through systematic assessment of relevant factors and the person's needs for nursing care, planning, implementation and then evaluation of care, available resources are used to the best advantage. Involvement of the patient throughout the process makes care activities more likely to be successful and reduces the stress which might lower resistance to infection. All nurses should include an infection control perspective in their practice. Patient factors such as resistance to infection, daily living activities and self-care abilities (physical and non-physical), cultural, religious or alternative health care practices, communication, dependence/independence tendencies, and environmental factors may all be relevant to infection control. Infection control requires planned good use of the resources of all those concerned-nurses, patients, other staff, visitors. Nurses can use the nursing process to help to achieve this.