Background Information: Isolation Routines

Abstract

Background Information: Isolation Routines 21.1 Isolation The isolation of patients with suspected or documented infections-to not spread to others-has been discussed for hundreds of years. Guidelines are many, methods are different, attitudes show vide variations, routines and procedures are still changing, regulations by law may be absent, and some healthcare professionals may be afraid of adverse outcomes of isolation [1-44]. Microbes that are spread in the environment, on the hands and equipment are invisible. The invisible agent does not call on attention before the infection; clinical disease, hospital infection or nosocomial infection is a factum that can be registered [23, 28, 29, 35-37]. How to stop the transmission is often "to believe and not believe" in infection control. 21.2 History Isolation comes from the Latin word isolare, from solus meaning alone. Isola means a "deserted" island, including Isola outside Venice, Isola di Santa Maria di Nazareth, where the first permanent quarantine hospital-nazaretto changed to Lazaretto (Lazarus)-was created in 1423 [45]. It was the bubonic plague or the Black Death (1347-1352) and leprosy which triggered the need for isolation or quarantine that protected against people who were sick. Quarantine (from Italian quaranta = 40) was introduced in Southern Europe ca. year 1400, to isolate presumed infectious ships, persons, goods, food and equipment from other places at quarantine stations for 40 days, i.e. double the incubation period for most serious infectious diseases, also in our time. In Norway, isolation was created primarily for leprous patients, probably by King Magnus Lagabøter in Bergen, ca. 1270, later on for the Black Death

Rede assistencial em preparo à COVID-19 no Piauí: distribuição e análise de equidade

“…Um outro fator importante a se considerar é o isolamento dos leitos hospitalares com o fluxo de ar controlado por pressão negativa, que evita que o ar que já circulou pelo quarto passe para outros ambientes próximos. Esse tipo de isolamento é indicado para pacientes suspeitos ou infectados por organismos patogênicos altamente transmissíveis por via aérea (21) , como é o caso dos pacientes da COVID-19. Apesar de comprovada eficiência, tal isolamento não é regulamentado por norma no Brasil (22) , refletindo na realidade atual onde a maior parte dos hospitais não tem isolamento respiratório por leito, tonando-se um constante risco de contaminação em ambiente hospitalar.…”