Airborne Precautions For Medical Assistants

Airborne Precautions in the Category of Transmission-based Precautions for medical assistants are,

1) Patient Placement:
a) Use private room that has:
b) Monitored negative air pressure,
c) 6 to 12 air changes per hour,
d) Discharge of air outdoors or HEPA filtration if recirculated.
e) Keep room door closed and patient in room.

2) Respiratory Protection
a) Wear an N95 respirator when entering the room of a patient with known or suspected infectious pulmonary tuberculosis.
b) Susceptible persons should not enter the room of patients known or suspected to have measles (rubeola) or varicella (chickenpox) if other immune caregivers are available. c) If susceptible persons must enter, they should wear an N95 respirator. (Respirator or surgical mask not required if immune to measles and varicella.)

3) Patient Transport
a) Limit transport of patient from room to essential purposes only.
b) Use surgical mask on patient during transport.

4) Patient Placement
a) Private room, if possible. Cohort if private room is not available.

5) Gloves
a) Wear gloves when entering patient room.
b) Change gloves after having contact with infective material that may contain high concentrations of microorganisms (fecal material and wound drainage).
c) Remove gloves before leaving patient room.

6) Wash
a) Wash hands with an antimicrobial agent immediately after glove removal. After glove removal and handwashing, ensure that hands do not touch potentially contaminated environmental surfaces or items in the patient's room to avoid transfer of microorganisms to other patients or environments.

7) Gown
a )Wear gown when entering patient room if you anticipate that your clothing will have substantial contact with the patient, environmental surfaces, or items in the patient's room, or if the patient is incontinent, or has diarrhea, an ileostomy, a colostomy, or wound drainage not contained by a dressing. Remove gown before leaving the patient's environment and ensure that clothing does not contact potentially contaminated environmental surfaces to avoid transfer of microorganisms to other patients or environments.

8) Patient Transport
a) Limit transport of patient to essential purposes only. During transport, ensure that precautions are maintained to minimize the risk of transmission of microorganisms to other patients and contamination of environmental surfaces and equipment.

9) Patient-Care Equipment
a) Dedicate the use of noncritical patient-care equipment to a single patient. If common equipment is used, clean and disinfect between patients.