25 years of Contact Precautions, but benefit or harm and what is the evidence? With Prof Jennie Wilson

In this week’s episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Professor Jennie Wilson of the Richard Wells Research Centre at the University of West London and current Infection Prevention Society President. We discuss her recent editorial, co-written with Associate Professor Jacqui Prieto from the University of Southampton. After 25 years of contact precautions, first introduced as putative best practice, the evidence to support this intervention has not appeared and there are suggestions that harms may be being caused through poor implementation. Contact precautions add PPE and physical isolation to Standard Precautions, however does this lead to over, and inappropriate use of PPE that is not required?

 

Papers cited during the podcast include:

1. Wilson J, Prieto J. Re-visiting contact precautions – 25 years on. Journal of Infection Prevention. 2021;22:242-4. Doi: 1177/17571774211059988
2. Bearman G, Abbas S, Masroor N, Sanogo K, Vanhoozer G, Cooper K, et al. Impact of Discontinuing Contact Precautions for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2018;39:676-82. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29580304