INFECTION PREVENTION
CONCLUSION
Healthcare professionals, and
community nurses in particular, are
facing unique challenges as patients
are increasingly being managed at
home or in community centres. This
means that new ways of working
are often required to deal with
developing and ever-changing
threats, such as CA-MRSA.
In order to respond to the changing
face of health care and the particular
challenges of managing more seriously
unwell patients at home, community
nurses need to have a working
knowledge of common health issues
— such as infection risk — that can
affect any patient, regardless of their
primary diagnosis.
As well as increasing their
knowledge base about the changing
nature of community health care, it
is also important that community
nurses develop their knowledge of
treatment strategies. In the case of
infection prevention and control,
this includes educating patients
and providing practical guidance on
personal hygiene. This can involve
using antimicrobial body washes
to help reduce the incidence of
infection at home, as well as being a
means of decontaminating the body
before elective surgery, and taking a
proactive approach to reduce the risk
of developing an infection.
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›
Key points
Infection can have a devastating
impact on patients’health and
wellbeing and can even be
potentially life-threatening.
Healthcare professionals have
a duty to reduce the risk of
infection regardless of cause
and/or setting.
The rise of antibacterial resistant
organisms — so-called‘super-
bugs’— put a strain on NHS
resources as well as negatively
affecting patients’ quality of life
and wellbeing.
The increase in the older
population means that there are
more patients with chronic, long-
term conditions, which make
them more vulnerable
to infection
Ensuring that infection
prevention and control
measures in the community
are effective poses a significant
challenge.
It has been shown that around
20% of all HCAIs could be
avoided if correct infection
prevention and control
principles were followed.
It is crucial that community
nurses educate patients about
steps they can take to halt the
spread of infection.
MRSA is no longer the sole
preserve of hospital patients and
is more common in patients’
own homes or nursing homes.
Community nurses need to
be vigilant in preventing and
controlling such outbreaks,
known as community-
associated MRSA or CA-MRSA.
JCN supplement
2014,Vol 28, No 5
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