The learning objectives for
this module are, to review and understand standard precautions.
To understand contact, droplet, and airborne precautions.
To understand when to implement contact, droplet, and airborne precautions, and
to understand the role of the resident in contact, droplet and airborne precautions.
To fully understand how to control the spread of germs, it is important to know
how infections are spread from one person to another through the chain of infection.
There are six links in the Chain of Infection.
The infectious agent or germ.
A reservoir where the germ normally lives.
A portal of exit from the infected person.
A means of transmission between persons.
A portal of entry in a susceptible person.
And a susceptible person.
The infectious agent is any harmful germ that causes disease.
In module one, you learned about antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
like MRSA, but there are other harmful germs that also cause infection.
There are viruses like flue and norovirus, fungi like candida,
parasites like giardia or arthropods like scabies or mites.
All of these can cause illness and infections in nursing homes.
Reservoirs are places where germs hang out, grow and increase in numbers.
These can be a person, animal, or environmental surface, like a bed rail or
BP cuff.
In people, germs can hang out on people's skin.
In the digestive tract like the mouth, stomach or intestines, and
in the respiratory tract like the nose or throat.
In order for a germ to spread from one person to another
it has to have a way to get out of the reservoir.
Some of the most common ways to get out are through the skin, nose and
anus, but there are numerous ways for a germ to escape.
Look at the diagram to see some of these exit points.
