What Is an Infection Control Audit Checklist?
An infection control audit includes surveillance, prevention and control (e.g. hygiene measures, identification of potentially infectious persons, isolation, vaccination). It can be general or targeted at specific environments, activities or population groups according to specific risks. According to the Epidemics Act, authorities can draw up guidelines and recommendations.
An infection control audit should reduce the frequency of infections. It identifies behaviours and procedures to minimise the risk of infection spreading. Infection prevention is mainly carried out in health and care facilities, but also in community facilities such as asylum centres or day-care centres for children, as well as in international ports. Since the corona pandemic, but also in view of the annual wave of influenza, the topic has become of interest to companies in various sectors.
An infection control audit checklist or their evaluation of infection control is used by responsible staff to assess cleanliness, practices and compliance with hygiene standards. The effective use of audit tools in infection control helps to minimise the risk of infection.
In this article the following topics are briefly discussed:
1. The 6 main points of an infection control audit
2. A digital tool for the prevention of infection
6 Main Points of an Infection Control Audit
Infection control tests cover all possible sources of infection in health care facilities, with special attention to the following six points:
1. Infection Control Programme
Each company should have its own infection control policies and procedures. These should be recorded in writing and all employees and trading partners should be informed of them.
2. Training of Employees, Customers and Partners
Knowing prevents disaster. Therefore, opportunities should be created to train employees, customers and partners and provide them with knowledge about infection control. Special circumstances call for strict adherence to measures that serve to prevent the rapid spread of an infection.
3. Hygiene Practices
Competence in proper hand hygiene is a must in order to keep the risk of infection low. Routine monitoring of hand hygiene practice by internal audits helps to ensure that proper hand hygiene is practiced.
4. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
One way to protect employees from infections is the proper use of PPE. It should be part of the standard procedure for any work involving health risks.
5. Setup and Equipment
Tools and equipment should be cleaned or disinfected regularly. In addition, the equipment should be clean.
6. Practice of Health Care
Wherever medical services are provided, proper implementation and maintenance must be implemented. Infection control protocols are drawn up for this purpose.
Use a Digital Tool for Infection Prevention
To introduce processes for infection control and to monitor them continuously is a big task. Lumiform’s mobile app makes it easier for responsible employees to assess compliance with infection control in the company. With the digital checklists,
audits can be easily carried out using a tablet or smartphone – online or offline.
Create the desktop software checklists and evaluate the data collected on site later. This significantly reduces the risk of quality losses, industrial accidents, documentation errors and damage to reputation. In addition, infection prevention officers can do the following with Lumiform:
- With the super intuitive mobile application with team colleagues every check on site is child’s play, saving time.
- Generate real-time data via internal processes. This makes quality and safety measurable and the data can be used to continuously optimize processes.
- Save time by easily analyzing all data and quickly identifying areas that require increased attention.
- Increase the efficiency of internal processes: Through more efficient communication within the team, with third parties and with management, as well as faster reporting of incidents, incidents are solved up to 4 times faster than before.
- Regular inspections can be planned to monitor company practices continuously.
