Every business owner has had to become a lot more cognizant of the idea of infection management over the past years but nowhere is this more true than in the health care and medical business world. Dealing with sick people, including infectious sick people, makes infection a much greater risk across the board, and, as such, extra efforts have to be taken in these cases to prevent that spread.
Here are a few quick tips for you.
Ensure the provisions of all necessary safety gear
Making sure that your practice is supplied with PPE is vital. Work with a PPE provider to make sure that you have gloves, masks, eye covers, and more. Keep them stored in a clean area, only used for a single-use, and are disposed of if they’re damaged or otherwise contaminated.
Hand sanitization is a must
Keeping your hands clean has always been essential but now it’s vitally important for all staff and patients to do it on a more regular basis. Keep hand sanitizing stations in each room and make sure that they are used any time a person touches any common surface, including when they enter or exit a room, or before handling any medical equipment or supplies.
Watch your waste
Of course, medical businesses have to be careful with any waste they have because they have a high level of hazardous waste, including contaminated first aid provisions (like bandages or gloves) as well as anything that might have contained blood or bodily fluids. However, even non-hazardous waste, such as non-RCRA pharmaceuticals, can still carry infections and, as a result, should be disposed of responsibly and reliably as possible. As such, you should make sure that you have wastebaskets for them in every room of the practice and that you have regular pickups from medical waste specialists to dispose of them properly.
Managing equipment and linens
Where you source the equipment used in a medical setting is vital, as the equipment is a known source of cross-infection. For that reason, make sure that you use suppliers who invest in the safe packaging and provision of this equipment, and are optimized for infection control and prevention. Similarly, linens are a common vector of infection, so you should make sure that they are provided and sanitized by medical linen suppliers, too.
Provide education for patients
Training your staff is likely something that you are already invested in, but a certain amount of education has to be given to patients, as well. As such, you should make sure there is clear and frequent signage as to any rules on maintaining social distancing, washing hands, or how to otherwise avoid spreading the risk of infection in the practice and your staff should be trained to inform and remind patients of these rules, too.
COVID-19 may have highlighted the importance of infection control, but there has always been a great need for it. Hopefully, the tips above remind you of some of the important steps you should be taking to prevent infection in your own practice.
