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Infection Prevention & Control

Infection Prevention & Control
Infection Prevention & Control
Infection Prevention & Control
About Infection Prevention & Control
 

IPC prevents or stops the spread of infections in healthcare settings. Breach Candy Hospital Trust follows the policy of “zero tolerance” to hospital acquired infections (HAIs).

The hospital has an empowered multidisciplinary HOSPITAL INFECTION CONTROL COMMITTEE which is chaired by Dr. F. E. Udwadia, Consultant Incharge of the Intensive Care Unit and a renowned Senior Physician. This committee meets every month and discusses in detail the practices, policies and infections of the previous month and methods for preventing them in the future.

The function of implementation of infection control policies set by the HICC is performed by an equally empowered & dedicated INFECTION CONTROL TEAM (ICT) comprising of microbiologists, infection control officer and infection control nurses who are actively involved in training, surveillance, monitoring, audits and training towards infection control practices and policies. The ICT is supported at the bedside with a strong team of IPC link nurses.

At BCHT, we do regular surveillance activity for hospital acquired Blood Stream Infections (BSIs), Pneumonia (HAP), Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs), Surgical Site Infections, Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI), Ventilator Associated Events (VAEs) and Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) We monitor our rates every month and also annually. We have been successful in maintaining low device associated infection rates for more than a decade with constant proactive interventions in the form of research, training and introduction of technology, based on local, national and international evidence. Our DAI rates are benchmarked with the rates of National Health Safety network (NHSN) of United States of America (USA) and other developed countries. We also track surgical site infections, health care associated C. difficile associated diarrhoea, hand hygiene compliance rates in our hospital as part of our Quality indicators for NABH.

A strong infection control program has been possible because of the dedicated ICT unit and support from our senior hospital management.

The IPC program includes

  • Provision of resources for hand hygiene and practices and protocols related to it.
  • Employee health and vaccination.
  • Antimicrobial policy guidelines.
  • Safe Infusion Practices.
  • Environmental Cleaning and disinfection guidelines.
  • Cleaning, Disinfection and sterilization policy.
  • State-of-the-art CSSD and TSSD:In order to ensure strict sterile supply processes for different types of invasive procedures, we have equipments like steam autoclaves, Plasma sterilizers, ethylene oxide based sterilizers, washer disinfectors and automated endoscope reprocessors. Every reprocessed instrument goes through stringent quality control of batch based chemical indicators, process indicators and biological indicators. We stringently adhere to manufacturers guidelines on reprocessing of all devices.
  • Infection control in kitchen management including screening guidelines for food handlers.
  • Protocols for safe Linen and Laundry.
  • Environmental surveillance: Routine air and surface samples from ICUs and OTs for microbiological analysis. Microbiological analysis of Drinking water, Dialysis water (In house as well as external-endotoxin testing).
  • Protocol for prevention & management of occupational exposure to Blood Borne Viruses (BBV) amongst Health Care Workers.
  • Management of blood & body fluids spills.
  • Engineering controls:
    • Ultraclean OTs with Hepa filter and Laminar flow.
    • Planned cleaning of AHUs, FCUs, ACs and AC ducts is performed to prevent any possible infection growth.
    • Hepa filters are cleaned and replaced at planned intervals to prevent infection growth.
    • Temperature, humidity and positive pressure are maintained in OTs.
    • All the hospital waste water, sewerage and histopath waste are treated in the STP before releasing it to BMC sewer line as per MPCB guidelines.
    • The water sample is checked regularly both internally in our lab and through NABL approved lab to monitor the quality of water supplied to the hospital.
    • All drinking water is supplied through aqua guards to ensure the water is safe for drinking.
  • Covid wards with negative pressure and supply of fresh air.
  • Barrier nursing for patients with multi drug resistant organisms infection and reverse barrier nursing protocol for immunocompromised patients who are vulnerable to infections.
  • Visitor’s and attendant’s protocols.

Training

An integral part of our infection control program is training. The Infection Control team (ICT) conducts periodic and regular training for our staff on our infection control policies in the form of onsite activities apart from classroom training. We also celebrate various important IPC events throughout the year e.g the annual hand hygiene week, infection prevention week, antibiotic awareness week, prevention of Sepsis campaign etc to motivate our teams to practice IPC measures.

Community awareness

We believe in empowering our patients with knowledge of Infection prevention. For the same, we have done awareness campaigns on hand hygiene, conjunctivitis prevention and prevention of flu transmission. A patient information flier is available at our OPD reception area containing common FAQs on infection prevention practices. The flier is intended to help patients, their family members and visitors to follow correct measures to prevent the transmission of infection both in the hospital and at home.

ICT at Breach Candy Hospital Trust have been national leaders in Infection Prevention & Control.

  • 3 of our ICT team members are board certified for IPC through APIC, USA, a program with international recognition.
  • We have conducted 7 national CMEs on Audits in IPC which was a program very much appreciated by participants and was one of its kind with plenty of interaction between faculty and participants.
  • CMEs on Surveillance of Healthcare Associated Infections, biomedical waste management and endoscope reprocessing.
  • We have been part of National conferences like MICROCON and HISICON organising pre-conference workshop training programs.
  • Our team is often invited to be faculty for various IPC events being held at different centres across India.

IPC is a team effort and the entire team of Breach Candy Hospital Trust, beginning with our CEO, Chief Operating Officer, Medical Director, Nursing Director, the Infection control team, link nurses along with our nursing team, sterile supplies team, engineering team, housekeeping team, physiotherapy team and other ancillary staff, we are committed to making efforts that go in preventing every single HAI and giving our patient a quick and safe recovery back home.

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