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Infection Control in Home Care Situations

Home care is becoming more popular and is replacing institutionalized care as patients prefer to be cared for in their homes. It is important that those who provide care in patient's homes become familiar with how to control and prevent the spread of infection for those they care for.

It is important that those who offer care in homes are aware of how to protect their patients from infections. Home care is unique in that there are no facility guidelines to adhere to. There must be standards of care that the individual caregiver is aware of and has the ability to follow so that those in homes can be cared for in ways that are safe and also foster preventative infection control.

In the United States there are currently 9,655 agencies that provide home care to patients. Infection control and health care policies can be regimented through these agencies for health care workers to follow. The risks and needs of home care infection control should be closely monitored and updated.

In order for there to be adequate infection control in home care situations there needs to be a good method of reporting and recording incidences of home care infection occurrences and the risk factors that exist in the home care situation.

Signs, symptoms and tests must be understood by those who are responsible for caring for those in home care situations. A two-tiered system can help caregivers identify and report patients with clinical signs or symptoms of infection. There then should be a review of the evidence and definitions assigned to the signs and symptoms.

There are many areas for infection control including catheters, post-operative patients, skin and soft tissue incidents especially for bed-ridden patients.

In home care professionals are often times responsible for maintaining quality improvement, safety, risk management and infection control in the home. Surveillance systems can be set up and support given by the agency involved.

In home strategies for infection control should focus on home-infusion therapy, urinary tract care, respiratory care, wound care and enteral therapy. Intravenous therapy techniques require careful practices to ensure infection control procedures are implemented.

Reusable equipment such as blood pressure cuffs, and stethoscopes should be cleaned with disinfectant in-between patients.

Strict adherence to hand washing procedures for both professional staff and patients.

Hospital-based infection control professionals can give support and guidance to home-care colleagues to foster an evidence-based approach to infection control in home care situations.