The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America released guidance on how long hospital staff should use of contact precautions when caring for patients infected with multidrug resistant infections.
Here are four things to know.
1. Contact precautions, such as glove use, are additional safety measures meant to eliminate skin-to-skin contact between providers and patients and reduce the spread of infections. The precautions also limit clinicians' risk of indirect disease transmission through contact with a contaminated item in the patient's environment.
2. A committee of infection control and prevention experts developed the new guidelines based on an analysis of available scientific research, a survey of SHEA members and theoretical rationale, among other considerations.
3. The new guidance, outlined in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, applies to treating patients infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, as well as Clostridium difficile.
4. The guidance specifically addresses when it is appropriate to discontinue contact precautions. For example, when treating a diff patient, contact precautions should be implemented for at least 48 hours after the patient's diarrhea has stopped.
"Because of the virulent nature of multi-drug resistant infections and C. diff infections, hospitals should consider establishing policies on the duration of contact precautions to safely care for patients and prevent spread of these bacteria," said David Banach, MD, a hospital epidemiologist at University of Connecticut Health Center and a co-author of the expert guidance. "Unfortunately, current guidelines on contact precautions are incomplete in describing how long these protocols should be maintained. We outlined expert advice for hospitals to consider in developing institutional policies to more effectively use contact precautions to safely care for patients."
To read the expert guidance in full, click here.
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