State Protection/Precautionary Measures Appropriate to the Procedure Being Carried Out , How They Should Be Applied and the Implications and Consequences of Not Applying These Measures
8. State protection/precautionary measures appropriate to the procedure being carried out , how they should be applied and the implications and consequences of not applying these measures
Answer:
When there is infection or contact with bodily fluids we are required to wear personal protective clothing. This can be masks aprons and gloves. We have certain colour coded PPE for any contact with patients including when serving food. The reasons for this is to prevent the spread of infection from patients to us or from us to the patients. Each item of PPE is for single patient use only and should be placed in the appropriate waste bin. We also have a strict hand hygiene policy that involves hand washing and applying a anti bacterial hand cleansing jel before and after contact with a patient and when we enter and leave a patient area. If we do not follow this we could cause our patients further harm to their health, infection could spread through out the work place and in extreme cases with the more acutely unwell patients this could cause their death.
When completing a ECG we should use PPE if the individual has an infection and discard in the appropriate bin after use. This information would be found in the patients medical notes. We should clean our hands with anti bacterial cleaner before we use the machine and the machine should be decontaminated with the appropriate cleaning cloths before and after it has been used and all leads and attachments cleaned. If we do not complete these things we may spread infection between patients myself and others.