This holiday season, help stop the spread of respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses. Follow these tips from our colleagues in Occupational Health and Safety and Infection Prevention and Control to keep yourself, your family, your colleagues and our patients healthy.
Clean your hands
- Good hand hygiene prevents 30 to 50 per cent of illness due to respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses.
- Wash your hands before and after every meal or snack break.
Food safety
- Avoid sharing finger food at work, and do not eat or drink in patient care areas. These activities bring your hands close to your mouth repeatedly, and tiny amounts of virus on your hands can make you ill.
- Store and serve food at the appropriate temperature. Foods requiring refrigeration need to be kept cold and foods requiring heating need to be kept hot. Failure to do so will increase the risk that the item may become a source for food poisoning.
Be vigilant
- Watch for signs of influenza (fever and cough) and viral gastroenteritis (new unexpected vomiting or diarrhea) in your patients.
- When patients have these symptoms, protect yourself, colleagues and other patients by instituting additional precautions and testing for influenza.
Spot a trend
- If you notice more than one staff colleague from your unit off sick with nausea/vomiting/diarrhea, or if more than one patient has unexpected diarrhea or vomiting, please notify Infection Prevention and Control immediately. Early identification of clusters and outbreaks protects everyone.
Report it
- If you do become ill with symptoms including fever, cough, congestion, runny nose, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea report it to Occupational Health, Wellness and Safety by calling x 7425 (SICK) at Mount Sinai Hospital and x 2803 at Bridgepoint. If any of these symptoms present during a shift, please also notify your team leader immediately.
Thank you for keeping these tips in mind. We wish you a healthy, illness-free holiday season!