What Are the Guidelines for Infection Control in Mobile Clinics?

Building a mobile clinic is a complicated process. While planning, you might wonder, what are the guidelines for infection control in mobile clinics? That’s why we are here to help you with our comprehensive overview of the sanitation protocol.

In our years of experience building mobile clinics, we have worked with clients of various backgrounds. As infection control in mobile clinics is essential to ensure the safety of both healthcare providers and patients, it is always our number one priority.

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What Are the Guidelines for Infection Control in Mobile Clinics?

Generally, mobile clinics operate in communities with limited access to healthcare facilities. Due to the potential risk of spreading infections, knowing how to prevent infectious diseases in mobile healthcare settings is crucial.

The key to successful infection prevention is for the facility to have a suitable program. Also, the program should be implemented accordingly. One of the ways to make the implementation process easier is to have in mind the medical coaches guidelines policies and procedures for infection prevention when designing the mobile unit.

Since we are dedicated to building the most suitable mobile clinic for our clients, we can help you build a unit in compliance with the CDC guidelines for infection prevention and control. They focus on various aspects, from ventilation and storage to PPE and hygiene.

Core practices for infection control in mobile clinics

Before we explain how to implement infection control measures in mobile clinics, you must be aware that many parties should be involved. For one, all levels of the mobile clinic must follow the infection prevention guidelines, including the unit’s leadership and healthcare personnel.

But to do so, they need to know what are the guidelines for infection control in mobile clinics. Thus, education and training of your medical staff and patients is a must. 

The training should be adapted to meet the needs of each category of healthcare providers. Still, all employees should know and follow the best practices for infection control in mobile units, which include:

• Hand hygiene
• Environmental cleaning and disinfection
• Injection and medication safety
• Risk assessment based on the performed activities
• Minimization of potential exposure
• Reprocessing of reusable medical equipment between each use

Hand hygiene

According to the CDC Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings, mobile clinics must supply all the necessary products for adherence to the hand hygiene of the medical staff.

As builders of mobile healthcare units, we always find the best solutions for our clients. We design the mobile clinic so that all hand hygiene products are readily accessible in all areas where you plan to provide patient care.

CDC recommends using alcohol-based hand rubs or soap and water for hand hygiene. Depending on your needs and the typical tasks healthcare workers do, we can install proper alcohol hand rub dispensers or sinks for washing hands.

Environmental cleaning and disinfection

To understand how to implement infection control measures in mobile clinics, you must get familiar with the CDC Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health Care Facilities. In short, all surfaces must be adequately disinfected with EPA-registered disinfectants, including the entire patient care environment. 

Injection and medication safety

Two of the top five services mobile clinics offer in the USA are child immunization and flu shots. Hence, many mobile clinics we built featured a designated clean medication area. Moreover, some of the guidelines we follow regarding injection and medication safety are:

• Building the area so that the aseptic technique can be used for preparing and administering medication.
• Storage for disinfectants.
• Easily accessible places for needles and syringes for medical staff.
• Storage of PPE.
• Appropriate place for disposal of the used PPE and other medical waste.

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Risk assessment and appropriate use of PPE

According to the nature of the interaction with the patient, the mobile clinic should have proper personal protective equipment. Mobile units' most commonly used PPE include face masks, gloves, gowns, face shields, and goggles.

Minimizing potential exposures

Other important parts of the guidelines for infection control are the systems for early detection, respiratory hygiene, and cough etiquette. Both staff and patients should practice proper respiratory hygiene. Educate them to cover their coughs and sneezes with a tissue or to cough inside their elbow instead of in their hands.

Modes of Transmission of Infection Diseases

Understanding how infectious diseases are spread will bring you one step closer to creating effective policies and programs. Additionally, it is essential to implement the right prevention technique according to the transmission mode. So, infectious diseases can be transmitted through:

• Air
• Droplets
• Contact

Recommendations for preventing airborne diseases

Many airborne infectious diseases might appear in mobile clinics. The ventilation systems play a huge role in preventing airborne infections from spreading. Our job as manufacturers of mobile clinics is to build an air-handling system according to the CDC guidelines.

To prevent infectious diseases from spreading, we advise our clients to consider the following measures when we are designing the mobile clinic:

• Properly installing the HVAC filters and ensuring there are no leakages and dust overloads
• Adding humidity controls to the HVAC system
• Installing steam humidifiers, if needed
• Installing the air intake and exhaust outlets according to the CDC guidelines

Recommendations for preventing waterborne diseases

There are many ways to prevent diseases from spreading through water and droplets. The most important for mobile clinics are:

• Hand hygiene
• Cleaning and disinfecting sinks, as well as washing basins regularly
• Proper supply of portable, holy, and dialysis water.

What Are the Recommended Sterilization Techniques in Mobile Clinics?

When it comes to sterilization in mobile clinics, there are multiple CDC-recommended techniques you might want to consider. The method of sterilization you must utilize greatly depends on the object in question.

For instance, steam is one of the most common sterilization techniques used for heat-resistant medical and surgical instruments. For mobile unit settings, we recommend using portable steamers.

On the other hand, for heat and moisture-sensitive equipment, you can use technologies for low-temperature sterilization. Some examples are hydrogen peroxide gas plasma and EtO. Other methods of sterilization available are peracetic acid immersion system and dry-heat sterilization.

Storage of sterile items

The CDC has regulations for storing sterile items that we rigorously follow when building mobile clinics. If you choose us to build your mobile unit, we will ensure the sterile storage area is:

• Well-ventilated
• Protected from dust, moisture, and insects
• Maintained at the recommended temperature depending on the items you store
• Humidity free

What Are the Guidelines for Handling Medical Waste in Mobile Units?

Wondering what are the guidelines for infection control in mobile clinics regarding medical waste?

The OSHA guidelines have several recommendations for medical waste management. As a mobile medical clinic, you must have a disposal plan for regulated medical waste. It should include guidelines for its collection, handling, predisposal treatment, and terminal disposal.

Our role in medical waste management as manufacturers of mobile clinics is to create an isolation area for handling and disposal of regulated waste. For this purpose, we use sharps containers. We install puncture-resistant containers wherever needed for needles and other sharp medical equipment.

Most importantly, we pay attention to the area's ventilation for storing regulated medical waste awaiting treatment. The containers we use prevent noxious odors and are inaccessible to vertebrate pests.

Why Choose Craftsmen Industries for Your Mobile Clinic?

The first reason you should choose us to manufacture your mobile clinic is our experience. We have been on the market for over 40 years and designed various mobile medical vehicles.

By picking us, you will ensure you work with a creative and reliable staff. Our designers will work hard to find a solution for all of your challenges, and we always use the best practices for infection control in mobile units.

Moreover, we can assist you every step of the way until you get a ready-to-use mobile clinic according to all CDC guidelines. Not only that, we can tailor the mobile clinic so that it serves your needs best.

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Conclusion

What are the guidelines for infection control in mobile clinics? Now that you know, you can request a free note or get in touch with our experienced team. By giving us your trust to build your next mobile clinic, you are minimizing the risks of infections of your medical staff and patients.

While our work ends by designing and manufacturing the mobile unit, it will be your responsibility to follow the rules on how to prevent infectious diseases in mobile healthcare settings during your work.