offers assistance to those interested in improving infection control in health care and community settings:
- Phone assistance with communicable disease and reporting questions.
- Assistance with outbreak investigation and control issues; call phone number.
- Consultations to provide public health information.
Inter-Facility Infection Prevention and Safety Form
- Guidelines and Precautions
- Injection Safety
- Hand Hygiene
- Environmental Cleaning
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Assisted Living and Long-term Care
- External Resources
Precautions
- Infection Control Guidelines: Standard, Contact, Airborne and Droplet Precautions
- CDC Standard Precautions Page
- MRSA and soft tissue infection guide for medical assistants and nurses.
Guidelines
Injection Safety
Hand Hygiene
- Hand Hygiene information for Healthcare Providers
- Six-Step Hand-Washing Technique Found Most Effective for Reducing Bacteria (Study to Compare CDC and WHO methods)
- Wash Your Handsington Campaign
Environmental Cleaning
- Quick Reference Information for Healthcare Providers
- Guide to Sterilization and Disinfection of Instruments, Equipment Surfaces
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- How to Use Personal Protective Equipment
- How to Properly Put on and Take Off PPE (CDC)
- Do’s & Don’ts for Wearing Gloves in the Healthcare Environment (APIC)
Assisted living and long-term care
- Norovirus/vomiting/diarrhea outbreaks—Know your facility’s normal gastrointestinal illness rate. This will help you quickly identify outbreaks. Use this toolkit if you suspect an outbreak.
- Flu outbreaks—Monitor flu-like illness Oct. 1 through April 30. Use this tool to promptly and effectively respond to an outbreak.
- Assisted living flu outbreaks—Congregate living facilities must provide a safe living environment. Use this tool to quickly identify and control flu outbreaks.
Patient materials
Surveillance
Resources
- Infection control resources and links.
- Healthcare associated infections (CDC)
- Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
Infection Control News
-
12/19/22 Health Advisory: Newly Arrived Ukrainian Citizens’ Medical and Mental Health Needs
On April 21, 2022, President Biden announced a new Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) process to help Ukrainian citizens fleeing war come to the United States temporarily. As of Nov. 18, 2022: Newly arrived Ukrainian citizens have various medical and mental health needs. Resources
-
11/22/22 Health Advisory: Pediatric respiratory illness increasing in Western Washington
On Nov. 18, Washington State Department of Health (DOH) issued a high-level alert on a surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causing remarkable strain on pediatric emergency departments (EDs) and intensive care units (ICUs). This alert followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Nov. 4 Health Alert Network (HAN) advisory on multiple viruses causing … 11/22/22 Health Advisory: Pediatric respiratory illness increasing in Western Washington
-
10/19/22 Health Advisory: Updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters available to children 5 years or older
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup approved an age expansion for updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster doses. The expansion allows children: 5–11 years old to get 1 booster dose of Pfizer pediatric updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. 6–17 years old to get 1 … 10/19/22 Health Advisory: Updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters available to children 5 years or older