Infection prevention and control: Guideline for speech pathologists, Version 1,2020.

5.0 Standard Precautions

Standard precautions are work practices that are required to achieve a basic level of infection control in all workplace environments. 32 It is vital to establish clear standard precautions and ensure these precautions are implemented in all clinical areas and practice settings. 3 There are key actions required by speech pathologists to ensure adherence to infection prevention and control measures when undertaking day-to-day practice tasks. The most significant considerations for potential transmission of an infectious agent are: • Clothing • Environmental surfaces • Healthcare worker hands • Shared items or devices (e.g., electronic tablet, waiting room toys, stethoscope). An overall summary of standard precautions is listed below. To provide further detail and information for clinical and practice settings, a more in-depth discussion of each standard precaution is provided in the proceeding sections . Standard precautions consist of: • Hand hygiene (i.e. ‘5 Moments of Hand Hygiene) 33 o Wash hands with soap and water and use alcohol-based hand rubs for all clinical activity (see Section 5.1) • Respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette o Minimise the transmission of droplet and airborne routes of infectious agent transmission (e.g., respiratory illness) using a series of actions (see Section 5.2) Appropriate use of PPE o Access and wear appropriate equipment depending on the setting and the type of precautions required (see Section 5.3) • Routine management of the physical environment o Maximise environmental hygiene and minimise or prevent the transmission of infectious agents from the environment to individuals through adequate cleaning (see Sections 5.4 and 7.0) • Appropriate reprocessing of reusable medical equipment and instruments o Undertake the required steps to sufficiently clean equipment and instruments used during procedures or in clinical practice (see Section 5.5) Aseptic non-touch technique o Protect clients from infection during procedures by minimising contamination (see Section 5.6) • Safe use and disposal of sharps o Minimise or prevent the risk of injury or potential exposure to bloodborne infectious agents • Waste management o Adhere to local, state and territory legislation and regulations to safely handle general and clinical waste (see Section 5.7) • Appropriate handling of clothing and linen o Minimise or prevent the potential risk of infectious agent transmission via fabrics or textiles (see Section 5.8). Standard precautions should also be followed in the handling of the following items, regardless of whether they contain visual blood; non-intact skin; and mucous membranes: • Blood (including dried blood) • •

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Infection Prevention and Control - Guideline for Speech Pathologists | Version 1, 2020