Global Infection Prevention Initiative Launched
(June 2003)

JHPIEGO is pleased to announce the publication of "Infection Prevention Guidelines for Healthcare Facilities with Limited Resources." The manual features infection prevention (IP) guidelines for outpatient settings as well as hospitals providing general medical, surgical, and obstetric services.

In the last decade, considerable progress has been made in understanding the basic principles of IP, and in acceptance and use of evidence-based IP practices. This information and new practical interventions informed the manual's content and aided in addressing the demand for IP guidelines for use at district hospitals.

A key purpose of the manual is to enable hospital administrators, clinic managers, and healthcare professionals working in limited-resource settings to develop their own uniform IP policies and service delivery guidelines. The content is intended as a quick reference to essential, universally applicable IP principles and scientific information. The material selected highlights the practices and procedures that are practical even in the poorest settings-minimizing cost and the need for expensive technology or fragile equipment while assuring a high degree of safety.

To facilitate the manual's adaptation and use, each chapter has a set of learning objectives and is fully referenced. This allows the manual to be used in a variety of ways-as a text for preservice education, group-based training, or on-the-job learning programs, or as content for developing teaching, job, or behavior change aids.

The manual is divided into four parts.

Part 1. Fundamentals of IP 
Part 2. Processing Instruments, Gloves, and Other Items 
Part 3. Implementing IP in Healthcare Facilities 
Part 4. Nosocomial Infections

Within the Fundamentals of Infection Prevention are several chapters based on the new Standard Precautions (introduced in 1996 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Standard Precautions are the first level of the revised isolation guidelines that replace the older Universal Precautions and Body Substance Isolation Precautions.

The section Processing Instruments, Gloves, and Other Items gives healthcare workers the information they need to solve instrument and equipment problems and reprocessing issues.

Implementing Infection Prevention in Healthcare Facilities focuses on coordinating and managing the special IP needs and services at district level hospitals, where the volume and type of healthcare services offered are greater than in the ambulatory setting. Information about accidental injuries and exposures to bloodborne pathogens has been included for staff providing blood bank and transfusions services, or working in the operating room and routine laboratories.

The Nosocomial Infections section contains guidelines for monitoring IP program activities cost-effectively, managing food and water safely in hospitals, and investigating outbreaks of serious infections. Hospitals now need practical, symptom-based isolation guidelines to prevent patients and healthcare workers at all levels from being inadvertently exposed to serious infectious diseases. Specific information targets the prevention of the most common and serious nosocomial infections in hospitalized patients-urinary tract infections, diarrhea, and pneumonia-as well as infections following surgery, maternal and newborn infections, and those associated with the use of intravascular devices.

The entire IP Guidelines manual is available for downloading from ReproLine.

In addition, a multimedia tutorial based on the guidelines, entitled "Infection Prevention for Healthcare Providers," is available on ReproLine.

Click on the button labeled Tutorials, then click the link for Infection Prevention for Healthcare Providers.

An Infection Prevention Learning Resource Package (IP LRP) will be published in mid-2003. The 6-day standard course is designed to provide basic IP knowledge and skills to all levels of healthcare workers, enabling them to use recommended IP principles and practices in primary and hospital care settings with limited resources. The IP LRP can be used as an IP "group-based" training course, adapted for a self-directed learning package, or incorporated into preservice training in obstetrics, gynecology, and general surgery.

Two videos are also available, for use with the IP LRP. "Safe Practices in the Operating Room" and "Infection Prevention for Healthcare Facilities with Limited Resources: Overview and Practical Training Demonstration Segments." These videos demonstrate the importance of IP practices to protect clients and healthcare workers, as well as the main steps of instrument processing.

For more information on these resources, please contact Debora Bossemeyer, Senior Clinical Training Advisor and Infection Prevention Global Initiative Coordinator at <dbossemeyer@jhpiego.net>.

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