Bandages and dressings are both used in wound management. A bandage is a piece of cloth or other material used to bind or wrap a diseased or injured part of the body. Usually shaped as a strip or pad, bandages are either placed directly against the wound or used to bind a dressing to the wound. A dressing can consist of a wide range of materials, sometimes containing medication, placed against the wound.

Nursing Care Plan

Cross infection is the physical movement or transfer of harmful bacteria from one person, object, or place to another, or from one part of the body to another (such as touching a staph-infected hand to the eye). When this cross infection occurs in a hospital or long-term care facility it is called a nosocomial infection. Communityacquired infections are those contracted anywhere except a hospital or long-term care facility.

Disease transmission is the means by which contagious, pathogenic microorganisms are spread from one person to another.

Emerging Pathogens and Revisited Prevention Strategies for the Clinical Environment (Nursing Center CE) Emerging pathogens are defined as pathogens that are new, remerging, or have developed drug resistance within the past two decades. This article describes several examples of current emerging pathogens and their effect on healthcare. The spread of these organisms between patients and healthcare workers is discussed, and strategies for prevention are explored.

Fighting Infection: An Ongoing Challenge Part 3—Antimycobacterials, Antifungals, and Antivirals (Nursing Center CE) The first part of this series provided a brief overview of how antimicrobials, the “silver bullets” of modern medicine, are designed to target specific agents of infection. The second part addressed several classes of antibacterials: bacterial cell wall inhibitors (penicillins, cephalosporins), protein synthesis inhibitors (macrolides, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides), and nucleic acid inhibitors (sulfonamides and quinolones). This third section focus on those drugs used to treat mycobacterial infections ( Mycobacterium tuberculosis ), fungal infections ( Candida species, Aspergillus species), and viral infections (herpes, hepatitis, and influenza).

Infection control is the protection of patients and health care workers by the prevention of infection in the health care setting in a cost-efficient manner.

AORN Journal Jan 2002 The following recommended practices were developed by the AORN Recommended Practices Committee and have been approved by the AORN Board of Directors. They were presented as proposed recommended practices for comments by members and others. They are effective Jan 1 2002

Universal precautions are safety procedures established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Dental Association (ADA). Purpose These precautions are used in medical and dental offices to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases to patients and health care workers.

Purpose: to outline the nursing management of wounds