Infection control guidelines for optometrists 2016

Abstract

Optometrists and optometric practice staff should adopt measures to minimise the risk of transmission of infection. These include appropriate hand-washing, staff vaccinations, single use instruments/equipment, appropriate disposal of waste, appropriate methods of reprocessing where items are reused, routine employment of standard infection control precautions and application of more rigorous procedures for individuals who are known to be infected or immuno-suppressed. Information provided to patients regarding infection control procedures in topical drug administration, contact lens wear and use of eye make-up are additional considerations for optometrists.

Contact lens practice in the time of COVID-19

“…Looking at available evidence in research papers, from the largest authorities in disease control and prevention around the world and from professional associations, there are at least 5 main areas of actions applicable in CL practice to minimise the transmission of COVID-19: patient management; personal protective equipment; disinfection of CL equipment and CL trial set; hands sanitisation; CL practitioner and staff monitoring. [9,11,12,14,[16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…Personal protective equipment such as eye protection (goggles or safety spectacles), water-resistant gloves with long tight-fitting cuffs, and surgical-style face masks (such as an N95 mask) should be adopted to reduce the likelihood of infection via either airborne or direct transmission [13,16,17]. Lai et al [9], have just published a paper sharing the experience in Hong Kong to minimize COVID-19 infection in Ophthalmology in which they suggest the installation of protective shields on slit lamps (see Fig.…”

“…In the case of specialty CL fitting such as RGP in keratoconus, OrthoK, and Scleral, where a trial set of CLs is used, it becomes very important to ensure that CL are disinfected well between patients. In these cases, rigorous infection control measures must be followed when trials lenses are reused [17].…”

“…Hand sanitisation must be performed through hand washing, before and after significant contact with any patient, even when gloves are worn [9,17,18]. Hand sanitisation includes cleansing hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or with soap and water or both [15,16,18].…”

“…Hand sanitisation includes cleansing hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or with soap and water or both [15,16,18]. It is important that during patient examination, CL practitioner must avoid touching their own face, nose, mouth and eyes [17]. The message around hygiene should be reinforced to CL patients nd they should be reminded to wash hands thoroughly before touching their own eyes and their CLs.…”