A detailed basic guide to the range of personal and technical precautions needed to prevent hospital-acquired infections. Information is specific to the cultural habits, conditions, and diseases of South-East Asian countries. Addressed to hospital staff, the manual follows a didactic style, pinpointing the essential dos and donts to be followed by all personnel, from surgeons to the cleaning crew. Throughout the manual, charts, tables, and numerous illustrations serve to spell out the exact procedures to follow, whether for the construction of a dustpan or the sterilization of syringes, while also bringing home messages about the ways that infections spread in the hospital setting and the precautions needed for prevention. The manual features 14 chapters, moving from the exact procedures for handwashing, skin preparation, and the application and removal of dressings to questions of water supply and the handling and disposal of hospital wastes. A model routine cleaning schedule for use by housekeeping services is also included. The most extensive and richly illustrated chapter covers the cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of equipment. Readers are given exact instructions concerning the equipment to use, the procedures to follow, and the common errors to avoid. Other chapters cover preventive measures specific to the intensive care unit, the hospital pharmacy, and the kitchen. A chapter on isolation contains a particularly useful table, organized alphabetically by disease name, that specifies whether isolation is required for each disease, what type of precautions are needed, the incubation period, infective material, and duration of precautions. The table, which covers more than 100 diseases, goes from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) to zoster.

ara eng.

WHODOC

WHO monograph

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