In the hospital, transmission-based precautions are used to help stop the spread of germs from one person to another in order to protect patients, families, and healthcare workers. If your baby has been placed on transmission precautions, it is important to understand what this means and what to expect from us, the staff. Knowing the methods in which a disease is transmitted is important for implementing proper infection control measures.
There are three different types of transmission-based precautions, and it can be confusing trying to differentiate between them:
Airborne
Contact
Droplet
Let’s Talk: Droplet Precautions
Transmittable by tiny, infected, air droplets contacting the surfaces of the eye, nose, or mouth.
Can be acquired by coughing, sneezing, talking, breathing, or during certain medical procedures (bronchoscopy)
Can be acquired by bodily fluids (urine, feces, saliva, sputum, semen, sweat, vomit, breastmilk) that enter your mouth, eyes, nose, or through a break in your skin.
Necessary when a patient infected with a pathogen is within three to six feet of the patient.
Examples of organisms: pneumonia, influenza, whooping cough, bacterial meningitis, plague, Ebola, SARS, diphtheria, rubella, mumps, etc.
Required PPE:
Gown
Surgical face mask
Eye shield/goggles
Gloves