Infection Prevention Solutions
ENTERIC PRECAUTIONS The three most important actions during an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting are: • • •
Effective hand hygiene Isolation of affected patients, restriction of movement of staff, service users and visitors and exclusion of affected staff Enhanced cleaning of the environment and equipment
EFFECTIVE HAND HYGIENE Effective hand hygiene is vital to prevent transmission of infection and must be actively encouraged. Managers must ensure that staff are properly trained in hand washing technique and that they have easy access to hand hygiene facilities including warm water, liquid soap and paper towels. Plain liquid soap is adequate; antiseptic agents e.g. ‘Hibiscrub’ are not required for routine hand hygiene even during an outbreak. Remember to always provide service users with hand-hygiene facilities i.e. detergent wipe or bowl of warm water, soap and towel after they have used a commode / toilet. Please note: Alcohol-based products e.g. alcohol gel / rub should NOT be used as a primary means of hand decontamination as this has been found to be less effective in viral outbreaks of gastro-enteritis. Soap and water should always be used initially and can be supplemented by the use of alcohol if required (but not essential). MANAGEMENT OF SERVICE USERS (ISOLATION) It is recognised that isolation of service users in mental health care settings can pose difficulties; however the need to protect others from infection is vital, where this is achievable. To gain co-operation control measures to be put in place should always be explained to the service user especially if they are required to stay in their bedroom. It is necessary to isolate service users with symptoms of diarrhoea and/ or vomiting. This means they have to remain in their own bay or room i.e. away from others who are well (asymptomatic), and with their own toilet facilities and designated cleaning equipment. If en suite facilities are not available, specific toilet areas should be designated for their use only or commodes allocated for symptomatic service users only and stored separately. It is very important that strict isolation procedures are implemented by staff e.g. hand washing, enhanced environmental cleaning and safe handling of infected linen/ waste etc. for the duration of the illness. Service users should remain isolated until 48 hours after normal bowel habits have returned and/ or vomiting has stopped.
xxxxxx Issue Date: 00/00/0000 Review Date: 31/05/2016
Management of an outbreak of viral gastro-intestinal illness Infection Prevention Solutions ©2021 Page 3 of 8
