Î Educate patients and their families about CDI as appropriate (III).
Î Measure compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) or World Health Organization (WHO) hand hygiene and contact
precaution recommendations (III).
Special Approaches for Preventing CDI
Approaches to minimize C. difficile transmission by HCPs
Î Intensify the assessment of compliance with process measures (III).
Î Perform hand hygiene with soap and water as the preferred method
before exiting the room of a patient with CDI (III).
Î Place patients with diarrhea under contact precautions while
C. difficile testing is pending (III).
Î After the patient becomes asymptomatic, prolong the duration of
contact precautions until hospital discharge (III).
Approaches to minimize C. difficile transmission from
the environment
Î Assess the adequacy of room cleaning (III).
Î Use a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved sporicidal
disinfectant or diluted sodium hypochlorite for environmental
cleaning and disinfection. Implement a system to coordinate with
environmental services if it is determined that sodium hypochlorite is
needed for environmental disinfection (III).
Approaches to reduce the risk of CDI if C. difficile is acquired
Î Initiate an antimicrobial stewardship program (II).
Approaches that Should NOT be Considered a Routine Part
of CDI Prevention
Î Patients without signs or symptoms of CDI should NOT be tested for
C. difficile (II).
Î C. difficile testing should NOT be repeated at the end of successful
therapy in a patient recently treated for CDI (III).
Î Do NOT routinely place patients who are on antimicrobials for other
indications on CDI treatment to prevent CDI (III).
Clostridium difficile
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