Carol Bradley1
1 Bradley Veterinary IPC Consulting, 16 Phoenix Avenue, Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, cbradleyconsulting@outlook.com
Abstract:
Research supports that IPC practices in the veterinary healthcare environment are slowly expanding and demonstrate similarities to the human healthcare sector. My observations during audits of IPC processes suggest that veterinary healthcare workers may not fully recognise the significance of complying with evidenced-based IPC recommendations for critical tasks such as hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and disinfection, surgical skin preparation, aseptic technique, standard and transmission precautions, and sterilisation of reusable medical devices in relation to animal healthcare outcomes.
In Australia, veterinary nurses are typically expected to roll out IPC tasks whilst veterinarians have general oversight on Antimicrobial Stewardship and outbreak management. Some veterinary clinics or hospitals have a significant lack of IPC Management Plans, while endorsed standard operating procedures (SOPs) are either not evidence-based or non-existent.
The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA), Practical Infection Control Guidelines and the Australasian Infectious Diseases Advisory Panel (AIDAP) have comprehensive recommendations for the veterinary healthcare environment. However, a gap has been identified in that not all Veterinarians or Veterinary Nurses are aware of these documents’ existence, leading to errors in the application of IPC processes.
This presentation will highlight some of the distinctions in how various IPC processes are applied in veterinary healthcare as well as identifying resources from our IPC human healthcare colleagues to improve IPC in veterinary care.