A new toolkit to help nurses combat infection has been launched by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Infection Prevention Society.
The Infection Prevention and Control Toolkit, supported by NHS England,focuses on how nurses can manage issues relating to antimicrobial resistance.
It also highlights the importance of sepsis and its two main causes, pneumonia and urinary tract infections. These are thought to be responsible for over 30% of all healthcare-associated infections and are a leading cause of ill health outside of hospitals.
‘Greater attention to preventing infection will go a long way in saving lives and reducing the risks of antimicrobial resistance developing further,’ said Rose Gallagher, professional lead for infection prevention and control at the RCN. She said that prevention infection spread can happenw ith joint partnership between national and local health, social care and public health organisations.
Antimicrobial resistance is increasingly becoming a priority for healthcare professionals. Last year, NICE released the first guidelines to reduce the chances of bacteria becoming antibiotic resistant, while a WHO report found that only 40% of countries in the European region had measures to limit the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
‘The health and social care system must provide a safe environment and level of treatment for patients to retain public trust. Focusing on the prevention of healthcare infections is a key part of the UK strategy to tackle antimicrobial resistance,’ said Professor Heather Loveday, president of the Infection Prevention Society. ‘This toolkit is the result of work by practitioners in infection prevention and control and commissioning organisations and aims to provide a valuable resource to enable commissioners to continue ensuring that no person is harmed by a preventable infection.’