Skill # 3

Answer

Skill # 3 

The practice of veterinary medicine is enhanced by infection prevention through regular disinfection and cleaning of different areas of the clinic. On the other hand, biosafety measures are undertaken through taking measures by vets and kennel attendants to reduce spreading of pathogens in a given clinic. For One Health objectives to be attained, human, animals and the environment need to be protected from pathogens responsible for diseases. This paper will analyze cleaning protocols, cleaning area and frequency of cleaning with regards to specific types of disinfectants used. Further, the paper will provide analysis on groups of disinfectant and clinical attempts to protect acquisition of new infections by managing isolation cases. 

For a given veterinary clinic, there are 7 step by step protocols to achieve effective infection control. First step is on outlining roles and duties within the clinical team of the facility. In this case, the front office staff is responsible for disinfecting lobby and other open areas while veterinary assistant is required to clean hospitalization and other boarding areas (Keep it clean, 2017). Other individuals are vet technicians responsible for cleaning exam rooms, treatment areas and the surgical suite. Practice manage cleans office as groomer is responsible for cleaning in bathing areas. From the presented protocols of cleaning, there are some areas that require cleaning on daily weekly and monthly basis. On daily intervals, cleaning should be done on lobby, administrative and public areas that are visited by people. Other cleaning activities to be dome on daily basis include personal equipment and treatment areas. For weakly routines, cleaning need to be conducted on entire examination room while monthly disinfection need to be ensured on the clinic compound and areas that are less visited by people. 

Disinfectants involved in cleaning surfaces in normally determined by pathogens mode of transmission. The choice of disinfect where pathogen are found on the surface or contained on wall will require use of antifungal cleaners inhibit growth of biofilms. On the other hand, fumigation of kernels using virucidal disinfects will help the clinic in managing viruses suspended in the air. Consequently, bacterial disinfectants help in disinfecting surfaces such as extermination areas that may be infested by bacteria such as E.coli. Cleaning activities applies use of different disinfectants based on their effectiveness and target pathogens. Therefore, there are 7 classes of disinfectants applied and their effectiveness to reduce pathogen levels (Brown, 2018). Major groups include chlorine based targeting a number of efficacy, alcohol based for open surfaces and phenolic directed to kill TB pathogens. Other disinfectants are aldehyde based for broader efficacy, hydrogen peroxide and peracetics where fast action is required.

Prevention of infections in a clinic can be managed by setting up quality control measures for monitoring and evaluating extent of compliance to cleaning protocols. Key move to attain this is by making designated dates for next disinfection for areas such as open field that are fumigated after longer periods of time. On the other hand, there is need to provide spot-checks on staff adherence to cleaning protocols and management of specific areas that they are assigned. Site handling is another matter of serious concern especially when there is a case requiring isolation. Since the clinic may be lacking isolation areas for such cases. It is important to have provisions for mobile isolation areas for response when such cases may pose threat to others in the clinic.