Infection prevention entails the process of identifying and implementing specific measures to control the spread of infection. There are various methods that have been tested and developed to control the spread of infections in hospital and home settings. All these methods are empirically approved. To know the specific method to apply, one should first establish the causative agent and the process of infection. This paper discusses the infection process, methods of infection spread and specific measures that can be employed to control infection spread inwards.

Infection process and Spread of Infections

Infections are caused by virulent organisms called pathogens that are adapted for the transmission and causation of infection among living organisms. The infection process is a triad of three interacting factors, namely the host, that is, the organism that will be infected, the Agent of infection commonly referred as the causative organism and the environment that refers to the prevailing conditions that facilitate infection. These may include factors like hygiene, temperature, humidity and social environment. For the infection process to be complete the following six components must be favorable; Infectious agent, reservoir, portal of exit, means of transmission, portal of entry and the susceptible host

Spread of infection can be grouped into two major categories, contact and non-contact. One to one contact method comprises of three methods of infection spread. A direct method of infection control involves the spread of infection following direct close contact between colonized body surfaces of the with the body surface of a susceptible host. Examples include shaking hands and coitus. The second group involves an indirect process where the infection is spread when a susceptible host comes into contact with contaminated surfaces like tables, doors or soiled surfaces. In this category also is the spread of infections through droplets.

Non-contact methods of infection spread include airborne, vehicle borne and vector borne methods. Airborne infections spread involves the spread of infectious material through aerosols or droplet particles less than 5µm. The most common infection that is spread through this method includes TB bacterium, or pertussis that may spread through sneezing. A transmission, vehicle, describes spread of infection following a common infected source like water, food IV fluid, etc. In a hospital setting, the vehicle could be a contaminated medication. Lastly, vector borne transmission of infection involves transmission of infection through parasite or animal vectors Examples of parasites include flies and mosquitoes while animal vectors include pets and rodents.

The role of the nurse in reducing the spread of infection

The nurse plays an integral role in disease prevention through infection control. By identifying the transmission method, the nurse devises the most effective way to curtail the disease spread. The most basic method of infection control in the ward is hand hygiene where the nurse washes hand between patients and between one service, and another. The nurse can also practice various nursing techniques like barrier nursing when dealing with a patient who has a very infectious disease or reverse barrier nursing when the patient is susceptible to infections like in immune compromised patients and burn patients. Lastly, the nurse should disinfect and sterilize all reusable instruments used in a patient and dispose of all clinical wastes appropriately.

Conclusion

This paper has described a summary of the method of spreading infections such as contact and non-contact methods. It has further described the role a nurse can play in infection control.