Katherine West explains how good infection control practices, vaccines and immunizations, cleaning and disinfection of equipment and work restriction guidelines can assist EMS providers and improve patient care.

What are the issues?

• Hospital patients are being discharged without receiving or fully understanding discharge instructions. This omission can lead to readmission of the patient. With the basics in place, departments can move on to expanding services to the community.
• Departments that are looking to expand services to meet the needs of the elderly, disabled and those living in rural areas where access to healthcare is not easily accessible, will need to refocus and expand infection control practices for the home care environment.
• Medical facilities are looking to EMS as the possible source for patient infections. Documentation and compliance monitoring will serve as liability reduction and risk management tools.
• EMS is now under the scope of healthcare associated infections (HAIs). The new term HAI is much broader and applies to more healthcare care delivery services.