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A look at how to minimize exposure of contagious patients by identifying patients, educating staff, providing feedback, containing the patient, having enough rooms to hold contagious patients, observing infection control practices, and treating infections appropriately.
Imagine a place that is busy, crowded, and noisy, then throw in overworked and distracted clinical staff, as well as a wide assortment of patients converging together, and you will have an insituation that is prone to facilitating infectious disease exposures and transmission. Unfortunately, that is the setting of many healthcare facilities today. With staffing shortages, even staff that normally abide by standard infection control policies and procedures find themselves cutting corners and skipping  Critical steps because of timeconstraints.
In order to effectively manage the context of contagion and prevent potentially serious outbreaks, several factors should be considered:
1) A facility's setting - rural vs. urban;
2) The types of services provided and patient acuity;
3) The incidence(s) of particular disease(s) in the surrounding community;
4) Seasonal variations; and,
5) Unusual events or outbreaks should beincorporated into facility and departmental plans for identifying, containing,and appropriately treating a contagious patient.
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