Practicing good hand hygiene is the most important thing we can do to prevent the spread of infection. Hand hygiene can be performed by washing your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Everyone entering your room should perform hand hygiene including your guests.
If someone enters your room and does not perform hand hygiene, we encourage you to ask them to do so for your own safety.
Other times when it is important to perform hand hygiene are before and after meals and after using the restroom.
Another way to stop the spread of infection is coughing/ sneezing into your elbow or a tissue instead of your hands. After coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose always perform hand hygiene as well!
Isolation Precautions
Germs can spread to others through contact, droplets, or through the air. Some germs are more contagious than others. Certain patients who have these more contagious germs require additional precautions when entering their rooms to prevent the spread of those germs. This may include wearing a mask, gloves, and/or a gown while in the room.
We use different colored stop signs to indicate which additional precautions and personal protective equipment (PPE) are required. PPE is available just outside the rooms. Remove PPE when you leave the room.
Red Contact Isolation – need gloves and gown
Green Contact Isolation – need gloves and gown – must use soap/water ONLY to wash hands
Blue Droplet Isolation – need surgical mask
Yellow Airborne Isolation – need surgical mask
Black Full Isolation – need gloves, gown, and surgical mask
Always perform hand hygiene when entering and leaving the room (hand sanitizer or soap/water).
Everyone, including guests, will be required to wear the protective gear when they enter an isolation room.
