Standard Precautions
Standard precautions are a set of basic infection prevention practices intended to prevent transmission of infectious diseases from one person to another.
Because we do not always know if a person has an infectious disease, standard precautions are applied to every person, every time to assure that transmission of disease does not occur.
Standard precautions were previously called "universal precautions."
Standard precautions include:
1. Hand Hygiene
2. Personal Protective Equipment
3. Patient Care Equipment
4. Environmental Control
5. Linen
6. Needles and Other Sharps (Needles should not be recapped. Most have a safety cap, if not, put it directly in the sharps container.)
7. Resuscitation Practices
8. Patient Placement
9. Respiratory Hygiene and Cough Etiquette
10. Safe Injection Practices to Prevent Infections in Patients
11. Infection Control Practices for Special Lumbar Puncture Procedures