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Reasons for Noncompliance With Infection Control Guidelines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Barry M. Farr
Barry M. Farr*
Affiliation:
University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia
*
PO Box 800473, Charlottesville, VA 22908
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Abstract

Concern frequently is voiced about individuals not complying with guidelines intended to prevent spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens from patient to patient, but institutional decisions to ignore Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommending detection and isolation of colonized patients also have contributed greatly to the increasing rate of infections due to these pathogens. This is so because colonized patients are the main reservoir for spread, and barrier precautions prevent spread much more effectively than Standard Precautions. Providing effective leadership and changing this culture of noncompliance must begin with the infection control team believing that spread is both important and preventable.

Type
Reviews
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 21 , Issue 6 , June 2000 , pp. 411 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2000

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