Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines

Guidelines and recommendations related to infection prevention. HAIs are currently one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. Health care professionals have an important role in HAI prevention.

On this page:
General Guidelines and Recommendations
    Hand Hygiene
    Environmental Cleaning/Disinfection
    Isolation Precautions
    Injection Safety
    Antimicrobial Stewardship
    Health Care Personnel
Infection Specific Recommendations
    Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDRO)
    Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI)
    Surgical Site Infections (SSI)
    Catheter-related Bloodstream Infections (CRBSI)
    Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)
    Healthcare-associated Pneumonia
Long-term Care Facilities
Outpatient (Ambulatory) Care Facilities
    Dental
    EMS

General Guidelines and Recommendations

Hand Hygiene

• CDC: Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings
  Recent developments in the field have stimulated a review of the scientific data regarding hand hygiene and the development of new guidelines designed to improve hand hygiene practices in health care facilities.
• WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care
  Hand hygiene guidelines for health care settings developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Hand hygiene in outpatient and home-based care and long-term care facilities
  World Health Organization guide to the application of the WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy and the “My Five Moments For Hand Hygiene” approach for use in outpatient, home-based care, and long-term care facilities.
• Hand Hygiene for Health Professionals 
  MDH hand hygiene information, research, and guidelines for health care workers.

Environmental Cleaning/Disinfection

• CDC: Environmental Infection Control Guidelines
  Recommendations for the prevention and control of infectious diseases that are associated with health care environments
• CDC: Disinfection and Sterilization Guideline
  Guideline for cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization of patient-care medical devices and the health care environment.

Isolation Precautions

• CDC: Isolation Precautions Guideline 
  CDC guidelines for infection prevention staff, health care epidemiologists, health care administrators, nurses, other health care providers, and persons responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating infection control programs for health care settings across the continuum of care.

Injection Safety

• Injection Safety
  Injection safety, or safe injection practices, refers to the measures taken to perform injections in the safest manner possible for patients, health care providers, and others.

Antimicrobial Stewardship

• Guidelines for Developing an Institutional Program to Enhance Antimicrobial Stewardship (PDF)
  Recommendations by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) for developing a program to enhance antimicrobial stewardship in the hospital setting to improve the quality of care.

Health Care Personnel

• Recommended Vaccines for Health Care Personnel
  Information on what vaccines are recommended for people who work in health care settings. A recorded webinar on this topic can be found in the Long-term Care Facilities section below.
• CDC: Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel: Infrastructure and Routine Practices
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Includes infection control issues for health care personnel and recommendations for prevention of infections.

Infection Specific Recommendations

Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDRO)

• CDC: Multidrug-resistant Organisms Management Guideline 
  CDC guidelines to prevent and control MDROs such as MRSA and VRE in health care facilities.
• MRSA Guidelines and Resources 
  Guidelines, publications, and resources to prevent MRSA transmission in health care facilities.
• MRSA Recommendations
  MDH recommendations for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) control in acute care settings.
• CRE Guidelines and Resources 
  Guidelines, publications, and resources to prevent CRE transmission in health care facilities.
• CDC: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) Infection Control
  CDC recommendations for detection, tracking, and reporting of CRE.
• CDC: Guidance for Control of Infections with Carbapenem-Resistant or Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Acute Care Facilities
  CDC recommendations for the prevention and control of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) or carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in acute care facilities.

Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI)

• C. Difficile Guidelines and Resources
  Guidelines and resources to prevent CDI transmission in health care facilities.

Surgical Site Infections (SSI)

• SSI Guidelines and Resources
  Guidelines and resources for SSI prevention.

Catheter-related Bloodstream Infections (CRBSI)

• CDC: Intravascular Catheter-related Infection (BSI) Prevention Guidelines
  CDC guidelines to reduce the incidence of intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI).

Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)

• CDC: Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) Prevention Guideline
  CDC guideline for the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in all health care facilities caring for patients that require urinary catheterization.

Healthcare-associated Pneumonia

• CDC: Guidelines for Preventing Health-Care--Associated Pneumonia, 2003
  CDC guidelines to reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated pneumonia and other severe, acute lower respiratory tract infections in acute-care hospitals and other health care settings (e.g., ambulatory and long-term care institutions) where health care is provided.

Long-term Care Facilities

• Guideline for the Management of Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms in Minnesota Long-Term Care Facilities
  MDH recommendations for the prevention and control of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms in long-term care facilities.
• Minimum Criteria for Initiation of Antibiotics in Long-Term Care Residents
  Two-sided card or poster with minimum criteria for initiation of antibiotics in Long-Term Care residents.
• Wound Care Infection Prevention Recommendations for Long-Term Care Facilities (PDF)
  Wound care treatments and services provided in the long-term care setting can entail complex procedures utilizing a wide array of products and/or equipment. These recommendations are designed to assist long-term care facilities with general principles and are not all-inclusive.
• Containment Checklist for Carbapenemase-Producing Organisms for Long-term Care Facilities (PDF) 
  MDH checklist for infection prevention and control in long-term care facilities providing care for a resident with a carbapenemase-producing organism (CPO) such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), Pseudomonas, or Acinetobacter with at least one or more carbapenemase-producing genes (e.g., KPC, NDM, VIM, IMP, or OXA-48).
• Algorithms for Prevention and Management of Clostridium difficile Infections in Long-term Care Facilities (PDF)
  MDH guidance for Clostridium difficile prevention and control including: early recognition and testing, contact precautions, room placement, identifying roommates, environmental cleaning and disinfection, and social and activity precautions.
• SHEA/APIC Guideline: Infection Prevention and Control in the Long-term Care Facility (PDF)
  SHEA/APIC recommendations for long-term care infection control programs. Recommendations cover the structure and function of the infection control program, including surveillance, isolation precautions, outbreak control, resident care, and employee health.

Outpatient (Ambulatory) Care Facilities

• CDC: Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings: Minimum Expectations for Safe Care
  CDC infection prevention recommendations for outpatient (ambulatory care) settings. Ambulatory care includes facilities where patients do not remain overnight (e.g., hospital-based outpatient clinics, non-hospital based clinics and physician offices, urgent care centers, ambulatory surgical centers, public health clinics, imaging centers, oncology clinics, ambulatory behavioral health and substance abuse clinics, physical therapy and rehabilitation centers).
• CDC: Recommendations for Preventing Transmission of Infections Among Chronic Hemodialysis Patients
  CDC infection prevention recommendations for hemodialysis facilities.
• CDC: Best Practices for Bloodstream Infection Prevention in Dialysis Setting
  A recommended set of interventions to prevent bloodstream infections (BSI) in hemodialysis patients developed by the CDC.
• ASGE/SHEA Guideline: Multisociety Guideline for Reprocessing Flexible GI Endoscopes: 2016 Update
  Multisociety guideline for endoscope reprocessing for use by all health care facilities where endoscopic procedures are performed. The guideline includes critical reprocessing steps (including cleaning and drying) and reprocessing issues for various endoscope attachments.
• CDC: Basic Infection Control and Prevention Plan for Outpatient Oncology Settings
  CDC recommendations for developing a basic infection control and prevention plan in outpatient oncology facilities.

Dental

• CDC: Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings --- 2003 
  This report consolidates previous recommendations and adds new ones for infection control in dental settings. Recommendations are provided regarding educating and protecting dental health-care personnel; preventing transmission of bloodborne pathogens; hand hygiene; personal protective equipment; contact dermatitis and latex hypersensitivity; sterilization and disinfection of patient-care items; environmental infection control; dental unit waterlines, biofilm, and water quality; and special considerations (e.g., dental handpieces and other devices, radiology, parenteral medications, oral surgical procedures, and dental laboratories).

EMS

• Emergency Medical Services Personnel Exposure Law
  • Emergency Medical Services Agency Version
  • Hospital Version