With routine health care being increasingly delivered in outpatient settings, in addition to ongoing disease outbreaks, and patient notification events, it has become imperative for administrators and clinicians alike to have a greater understanding about how to implement disease prevention programs in their outpatient environments.
To assist in this important process, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a guidance document and checklist specifically designed to give guidance on basic infection prevention practices in outpatient settings.
Although the evidence-based recommendations in the concise “Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings: Minimum Expectations for Safe Care” are not new, the document’s format offers outpatient administrators and clinicians a novel, easy-to-use reference guide and checklist tool to ensure minimum infection prevention standards are being met during every patient contact. Additionally, the guide emphasizes the recommendation that every outpatient practice should identify at least one individual to serve as a point person for its infection control program.
The new guide provides key infection prevention polices, procedures, and practices that outpatient settings should have in place in order to prevent health care-associated infections. It also includes a checklist that personnel can use to proactively assess their infection control practices.
The complete guide is available for download here.
(Source: Press Release and Web Link)
