science

Infection prevention and control

Infection prevention and control is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Infection prevention and control rather than just read about it. In short: Infection prevention and control (IPC) is the discipline concerned with preventing healthcare-associated infections; a practical rather than academic sub-discipline of epidemiology. In Northern Europe, infection prevention and control is expanded from healthcare into a component in public health, known as "infection protection" (smittevern, smittskydd, Infektionsschutz in the local languages).

Key takeaways

Infection prevention and control belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Infection prevention and control to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Infection prevention and control from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is the discipline concerned with preventing healthcare-associated infections; a practical rather than academic sub-discipline of epidemiology. In Northern Europe, infection prevention and control is expanded from healthcare into a component in public health, known as "infection protection" (smittevern, smittskydd, Infektionsschutz in the local languages). It is an essential part of the infrastructure of health care. Infection control and hospital epidemiology are akin to public health practice, practiced within the confines of a particular health-care delivery system rather than directed at society as a whole. Infection control addresses factors related to the spread of infections within the healthcare setting, whether among patients, from patients to staff, from staff to patients, or among staff. This includes preventive measures such as hand washing, cleaning, disinfecting, sterilizing, and vaccinating. Other aspects include surveillance, monitoring, and investigating and managing suspected outbreaks of infection within a healthcare setting. A subsidiary aspect of infection control involves preventing the spread of antimicrobial-resistant organisms such as MRSA. This in turn connects to the discipline of antimicrobial stewardship—limiting the use of antimicrobials to necessary cases, as increased usage inevitably results in the selection and dissemination of resistant organisms. Antimicrobial medications (aka antimicrobials or anti-infective agents) include antibiotics, antibacterials, antifungals, antivirals and antiprotozoals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set up an Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) unit in its Service Delivery and Safety department that publishes related guidelines.

Infection prevention and control Aseptic technique is a key component of all invasive medical procedures. Similar control measures are also recommended in any healthcare setting to prevent the spread of infection generally.

Hand hygiene

Hand hygiene is one of the basic, yet most important steps in IPC (Infection Prevention and Control). Hand hygiene reduces the chances of HAI (Healthcare Associated Infections) drastically at a floor-low cost. Hand hygiene consists of either hand wash (water based) or hand rubs (alcohol based). Hand wash is a solid 7-steps according to the WHO standards, wherein hand rubs are 5-steps. The American Nurses Association (ANA) and American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) have set specific checkpoints for nurses to clean their hands; the checkpoints for nurses include, before patient contact, before putting on protective equipment, before doing procedures, after contact with patient's skin and surroundings, after contamination of foreign substances, after contact with bodily fluids and wounds, after taking off protective equipment, and after using the restroom. To ensure all before and after checkpoints for hand washing are done, precautions such as hand sanitizer dispensers filled with sodium hypochlorite, alcohol, or hydrogen peroxide, which are three approved disinfectants that kill bacteria, are placed in certain points, and nurses carrying mini hand sanitizer dispensers help increase sanitation in the work field. In cases where equipment is being placed in a container or bin and picked back up, nurses and doctors are required to wash their hands or use alcohol sanitizer before going back to the container to use the same equipment. Independent studies by Ignaz Semmelweis in 1846 in Vienna and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1843 in Boston established a link between the hands of health care workers and the spread of hospital-acquired disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that "It is well documented that the most important measure for preventing the spread of pathogens is effective handwashing". In the developed world, hand washing is mandatory in most health care settings and required by many different regulators. In the United States, OSHA standards require that employers must provide readily accessible hand washing facilities, and must ensure that employees wash hands and any other skin with soap and water or flush mucous membranes with water as soon as feasible after contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM). In the UK healthcare professionals have adopted the 'Ayliffe Technique', based on the 6 step method developed by Graham Ayliffe, J. R. Babb, and A. H. Quoraishi.

Drying is an essential part of the hand hygiene process. In November 2008, a non-peer-reviewed study was presented to the European Tissue Symposium by the University of Westminster, London, comparing the bacteria levels present after the use of paper towels, warm air hand dryers, and modern jet-air hand dryers. Of those three methods, only paper towels reduced the total number of bacteria on hands, with "through-air dried" towels the most effective. The presenters also carried out tests to establish whether there was the potential for cross-contamination of other washroom users and the washroom environment as a result of each type of drying method. They found that:

the jet air dryer, which blows air out of the unit at claimed speeds of 400 mph, was capable of blowing micro-organisms from the hands and the unit and potentially contaminating other washroom users and the washroom environment up to 2 metres away use of a warm air hand dryer spread micro-organisms up to 0.25 metres from the dryer paper towels showed no significant spread of micro-organisms. In 2005, in a study conducted by TÜV Produkt und Umwelt, different hand drying methods were evaluated. The following changes in the bacterial count after drying the hands were observed:

Cleaning, Disinfection, Sterilization The field of infection prevention describes a hierarchy of removal of microorganisms from surfaces including medical equipment and instruments. Cleaning is the lowest level, accomplishing substantial removal. Disinfection involves the removal of all pathogens other than bacterial spores. Sterilization is defined as the removal or destruction of ALL microorganisms including bacterial spores.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Infection prevention and control

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Infection prevention and control claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Infection prevention and control before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Infection prevention and control ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Infection prevention and control

In research: Infection prevention and control appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Infection prevention and control in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Infection prevention and control is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Epidemiology, Infection-control measures, Medical hygiene, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Infection prevention and control outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Infection prevention and control in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Infection prevention and control means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Infection prevention and control out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Infection prevention and control in simple terms?

Why does Infection prevention and control matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Infection prevention and control?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Infection prevention and control.