AORNs Proposed Recommended Practices for Prevention of Transmissible Infections in the Perioperative Practice Setting are Up for Review Through Nov. 28, 2005

DENVER The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has opened its proposed Recommended Practices for Prevention of Transmissible Infections in the Perioperative Practice Setting (formerly titled Recommended Practices for Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions in the Perioperative Practice Setting) for review and comment through Nov. 28, 2005.

The proposed recommended practices for prevention of transmissible infections were developed by the AORN Recommended Practices Committee. These recommended practices are intended as achievable recommendations representing what is believed to be an optimal level of practice. Policies and procedures will reflect variations in practice settings and/or clinical situations that determine the degree to which the recommended practices can be implemented.

AORN recognizes the numerous types of settings in which perioperative nurses practice. These recommended practices are intended as guidelines adaptable to various practice settings. These practice settings include traditional operating rooms, ambulatory surgery centers, physicians' offices, cardiac catheterization suites, endoscopy suites, radiology departments, and all other areas where operative and other invasive procedures may be performed.

The recommended practices provide guidance to protect patients and health care workers from exposure to potentially infectious agents. They are based in part on the "Guideline for Isolation Precautions in Healthcare Settings," published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), and the Occupational Safety and Healthcare Administration (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogen Standard.

The rapidly changing healthcare environment presents health care workers with continuing challenges in the form of newly recognized pathogens and long known microorganisms that have become more resistant to today's therapeutic modalities. Protecting patients and safe guarding health care providers from potentially infectious agent transmission continues to be a primary focus of perioperative registered nurses.

To view the proposed recommended practices, go to http://www.aorn.org/proposed/infections.htm

Source: AORN