Infection Control Precautions

Background

Infection prevention and control needs may vary across different healthcare settings, procedures, and patients. Healthcare workers may need to apply standard, transmission-based (e.g., airborne, contact, droplet), or enhanced barrier precautions depending on the situation and setting. These precautions may have different applications depending on the healthcare setting involved. 

Standard precautions are a set of basic infection prevention practices that are used for the care of all patients at all times. These standard practices protect healthcare personnel from infection and prevent the spread of disease from patient to patient.  

Standard precautions include:  

Standard precautions are essential to help prevent infections during delivery of numerous types of health care, including respiratory care and wound care. 

There are three types of Transmission-Based Precautions:

  • Contact Precautions (for diseases spread by direct or indirect contact)
  • Droplet Precautions (for diseases spread by large particles in the air)
  • Airborne Precautions (for diseases spread by small particles in the air)

Each type of precautions has some unique prevention steps that should be taken, but all have Standard Precautions as their foundation. 

Enhanced Barrier Precautions are only used in nursing homes. They can be applied (when Contact Precautions do not otherwise apply) to residents with any of the following: 

  • Wounds or indwelling medical devices, regardless of multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) colonization status 
  • MDRO infection or colonization 

 

 

 

Educational Resources

Enhanced Barrier Precautions

Transmission-Based Precautions

Respiratory Program

VDH Infection Prevention and Control Assessments: The HAI/AR team is available to conduct a no-cost, non-regulatory, onsite visit to help a facility identify its infection prevention strengths and areas of opportunity.

Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Group

VCU Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center

 

 

 

Setting-Specific Resources

CDC Interfacility Transfer Form - The patient transfer form helps make it easier to share information when patients are moved between different places for care. Hospitals and groups focused on making patient safety better can change and use this form to fit their needs.

Infection control precautions resources specific to long-term care settings: 

Nursing Homes

View Long-Term Care Homepage

 

 

 

Regulatory Resources

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Last Updated: October 16, 2024