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I N F E C T I O N
P R E V E N T I O N
Test for thoroughness. There are several commercial
products designed to make your invisible enemy more visible.
You can measure how well staff are doing by swabbing an area after
they've finished cleaning and then inserting the swab into a light
meter or luminometer. The more areas that were missed or cleaned
insufficiently, the higher the level of light units it will register. You can
also deposit fluorescent
material on random surfaces
and then shine a black light
on those surfaces to reveal
what's been left behind. Just
keep in mind that the goal of
testing is not to be punitive,
but rather to create teachable moments. There are a
lot of surfaces and it's easy
to miss things. More on this
in No. 10 below.
Gail Quinlan, RN
3
HITS AND MISSES It helps to spot check how
well your staff is doing with a swab and a luminometer, but use the test to teach, never to punish.
Do spot checks.
Chances are you don't
have the resources to check
every room every time. That
would take too much time
and too much money (typically each swab costs
between $3 and $4). Instead,
consider conducting spot
checks. As part of our citywide C. difficile prevention
