What are you doing about infection control in the optical? Yes, I mean YOU!
Particularly, what to do about the frames patients try on....wipe 'em down with alcohol enough and you'll remove the frame markings. It's also time consuming. Are there any spray disinfectants that wouldn't leave a nasty film on the lenses, hence requiring cleaning every frame again?
I guess you could follow the Patient, and that way have them hand you the frame they try on so you can wipe it quickly and put it back up after they try it on, Is everyone wipeing down there pupilometers afte each pt.?:)
I stole one of those produce mist sprays from winn-dixie and retrofitted it to my frame boards.
A refreshing sterile mist shoots the frames at the top of every hour.
Why waste time cleaning every frame? Do as I do...Spray the client in the face with Lysol. ( make sure you get the nose and ears good.:D)
Biggest thing is using hand sanitizer frequently and between clients. Have a few bottles at your work station. Most infections are caused by hand to mouth movements. Kill the germs on the hands and you will be fine.
Oh, and when you wash your hands, use soapy water for AT LEAST 15 seconds. The five second hand clean will not work. The just rinsing under water will not either.
I was getting my hair cut today and the guy was talking about getting sick. He said he just has to wash his hands a lot. I told him there should be a bottle of Purell at every workstation. He asked what it will look like to the customers. I told him that it will look like you are a very clean and hygienic workplace
We have bottles of Purell hand sanitizer spread throughout the office and frame rooms. I was surprised how many people use them.
I've noticed bottles of Purell out at my bank, CVS, and grocery store for customers to use. Seems like a good ides to me and is less expensive than getting sick. We used to keep those mini or travel sized bottles in our desk, but it makes sense to have bottles out for pt use as well.
~Crazy
Yep. It is no longer considered rude to use them after working with someone. People seem to actually appreciate itOriginally Posted by AdmiralKnight
Hand sanitizer all the way here. I wipe down the pupilometer between patients with what's handy which is lens cleaner spray and a tissue. The tried on frames unfortunately get wiped down once a week on Tuesday (at least I think they do, it's my day off) and we use a kitchen disenfectant to wipe down counters. If a patient looks, sounds, or admits to being sick then the frame gets wiped down immediately as do everyhting we think they may have touched. We're a little paranoid around here.
Besides the obvious, like frames and instruments, we make hourly sweeps of the office with disinfectant with most of our attention paid to all those common areas in the office where our hands are- counters, keyboards, phones, doorknobs, bathroom rails-toilet knobs-locks etc. I believe we stand at least as big a chance of picking up something from those areas.
I just lock myself in a closet and stuff water soaked towels under the door.
Never thought about doing that. Has it worked out for you?
I do that, too, except I keep filling the room with water until I've got a warm bath.
Naw, but I spent about an hour today cleaning frames with the disinfecting swipe things, and it made my hands feel really slimy when I washed them. I wonder how many frames you can clean with one swab before you are just spreading germs instead of killing them. Is it good until it's dry, or does it lose efficacy after 50 frames?
if all of these measures were followed properly one case of respiratory flu out of ev
The research team led by professor Tom Jefferson from the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group in Italy reviewed 59 studies done on the usefulness of physical ways to limit the spread of respiratory viruses.
The team concluded that washing hands frequently, wearing masks, gloves and gowns around sick patients were the most effective ways to avoid contracting flu.
The scientists further noted that if all of these measures were followed properly one case of respiratory flu out of every three could be prevented.
Dr Jefferson said everyone thought taking vaccines and antivirals, could prevent/cure the disease but this was only an "obsession with vaccines that don''t exist and antivirals which will probably cause you sickness as well", reports the Scotsman. (ANI)
http://www.topnews.in/basic-hygiene-...-drugs-2217137
the only thing I want to clear up is wearing the masks. This comes directly from the health units, nurses and doctors. Wearing masks will help prevent any germs you have from being transfered to someone else. However, it does a poor job, if any, of preventing someone else's germs from entering you (in this case)
We also provide hand sanitizers for patients and staff, which are frequently used. We also clean equipment and (what ever we can) as often as possible. Airbourne transmittance seems to be the number one issue though.
A question for the experts:
How long do you feel flu/virus remains transmitable on a non-living surface?
Germs can live on surfaces for 2 hours or more........
Here is your answer..........share it
What differences exist between pandemic influenza and the seasonal influenza?
- Most people have little or no immunity to this virus. The seasonal flu is caused by a virus that is already among people.
- A pandemic is caused by a virus that is completely new to people.
How is H1N1 transmitted?
- H1N1 is spread mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets in the air. Droplets are released into the air when a person coughs or sneezes. The droplets may be received through inhalation by a person in close proximity.
- Another way of contracting the flu is by touching a surface which contains the flu virus and then touching your mouth, eyes or nose.
- Germs can live on surfaces for 2 hours or more.
- Life span will depend on environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity.
http://www.harrisburgpa.gov/Advisory...h_Adv_eng.html
Last edited by Chris Ryser; 10-28-2009 at 12:07 PM.
Germs can live on surfaces for 2 hours or more. ................
So that can create some problems in an optical store if somebody, a patient for example, that is infected but not sick yet, tries on some frames.
Some sniffles wipe over your nose and touch and try the frames and the virus sits on your frames.
You should actually put them aside and clean them wet with an anti virus cleaner or neutralizer before hanging them up on the frame bar. Or remove them for a period of 3 hours before placing them back and the virus dies a natural death. Whatever is best for you.
Your pupillometer you place on the nose of patients, which has been rubbed with infected hands.
The patients coming for adjustments of their glasses, you better put them first into the ultrasonic cleaner that contains a real cleaner and not your own concoction.
I think I could go on and on. At least the jobs coming from the lab have been on the way probably more than the 3 hours and should be safe.
But however this whole bit is scary and I would propose to keep this thread going as it looks like a serious matter
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks