Prevention and Control of Infections - Standard Precautions Policy

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Prevention & Control of Infections - Standard Precautions – 18.12 9.6 Excreta should be either flushed down the toilet or disposed of into a macerator. Wipes and/or paper towels which are not flushable must not be used in this process. The affected area to then be cleaned using combined detergent and disinfectant. 10.0 WASTE MANAGEMENT 10.1 The Trust Waste Management Policy (16.08) and local management of waste procedures must be followed when handling and disposing of clinical and sharps waste. 10.2 Clinical Waste 10.2.1 Clinical waste is deemed as any human tissue and disposable items and materials that have been used on patients, e.g. dressings, wipes, gloves, masks, aprons and paper tissues all of which to be disposed of into an orange clinical waste bag. Soiled mattresses should also be included within this definition although the local Waste Manager to be contacted when it is necessary to dispose of mattresses. 10.2.2 Ensure that products that have been contaminated with blood or body fluids are disposed of as clinical waste. 10.2.3 Infectious clinical waste including dressing bandages and wipes should be disposed of in an orange bag 50 micron mesh. 10.2.4 Waste which has the appearance of clinical waste e.g. gloves, masks or aprons should be treated as clinical waste, whether infected or not. This waste looks offensive and would be difficult to prove that it was not contaminated. This also applies to continence waste such as pads, urinary catheters and drainage bags, whether from a urinary catheter or a stoma. 10.3 Sharps Waste 10.3.1 Refer to paragraph 7 above. 10.3.2 Includes syringes, needles, cartridges, empty or partially used injection vials/ ampoules and other sharp instruments. 10.3.3 As a general rule sharps waste to be placed in yellow plastic sharps bins with yellow lids. If there is a large amount of sharps used for venepuncture, these are to be disposed of in an orange-lidded sharps bin. 10.3.4 Purple-lidded bins to be used for the disposal of cytotoxic and cytostatic medications. For Rampton Hospital only, the procedures in “Guidance No: 22 Management of Oral Cytotoxic Drugs On Wards” to ensure safe handling and disposal of these medicines to be followed. 11.0 LAUNDRY 11.1 Safe handling of foul or infected linen minimises the risk of infection to staff required to handle and launder the linen. HSG(95) 18 Hospital Laundry Arrangement for Used and Infected Linen to be followed to minimise the risk of infection and injury to health care workers and the wider community. 11.2 Definitions • Used linen – any linen from non-infected persons • Soiled linen- linen soiled with excrement or body fluids ISSUE 1 – FEBRUARY 2011 7
Prevention & Control of Infections - Standard Precautions – 18.12 • Infected/infested linen- any linen used by infectious or infested (e.g. lice or fleas) persons 11.3 Use of suitable bags • Used linen – WHITE cloth bags (Clear plastic inner bags to be used for damp linen) • Soiled/infected/infested linen – RED water soluble bag inside a CLEAR plastic inner bag inside a RED cloth bag 11.3.1 Ensure that the linen bag is securely tied as per local procedure. 11.3.2 The initial handling and segregation of linen is a nursing responsibility. 11.3.3 To reduce the risk of infection and injury in the handling of used linen it is important to always wear disposable gloves and aprons and to ensure that the linen contains no objects likely to cause injury e.g. sharps. 11.5 Patients Personal Clothing Many patients are encouraged to launder their own clothes using ward/unit washing machines. Only normal used personal clothing should be laundered in this way. Each patients clothing must be washed separately. 11.5.1 Patients clothing sent to the laundry which is infected/infested must be placed in a red soluble bag. 11.5.2 Consideration should be given to the highest temperature a garment can be washed at when purchasing clothing, in particular when purchasing heat labile clothing which is easily damaged by the high temperatures required to launder/tumble dry infected/infested clothing. 11.4.3 Consideration should be given to the disposal of heavily soiled linen/clothing rather than laundering. Such items should be disposed of as clinical waste. 11.4.4 In Rampton Hospital the Foul and Infected Linen Disposal procedure to be followed. 12.0 DECONTAMINATION OF EQUIPMENT 12.1 Refer to the Trust-wide Decontamination Policy & Procedure (Policy Ref 18.01 & 18.01a for full information on the decontamination of equipment. 12.2 At Rampton Hospital reference should also be made to the Decontamination of Dental Equipment Procedure. 12.3 Equipment which is used for more than one patient must be decontaminated between patients. 12.4 Decontamination will include cleaning and may be followed by disinfection or sterilisation according to manufacturers’ instructions. 12.5 Medical devices which have been designated single use by the manufacturer are to be used wherever possible. Any item marked with the single-use symbol (a figure 2 inside a circle with a diagonal line through it) must not be reused e.g. syringes, catheters, gloves. ISSUE 1 – FEBRUARY 2011 8
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