Title: Routine Practices & Additional Precautions
Course: COVID CURRICULUM (Export) > Section: Module1: Infection Prevention & Control

Routine Practices are infection prevention and control practices that should be used during routine care of all patients to prevent the transmission of microorganisms.

Routine practices include but are not limited to:

- Point of Care Risk Assessment
- Hand hygiene
- Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  - During COVID-19 a mask is recommended for all health care providers, worn for the duration of their shift (Government of Canada, 2020; PHO, 2020).
  - The Government of Canada (2020) recommends that eye protection also be considered.
- Cleaning of equipment and the environment
- Sharps safety
- Aseptic technique
- Administrative controls such as education and policies and procedures.

Additional Precautions are used in addition to Routine Practices when a patient has symptoms or is suspected of being colonized with certain microorganisms/diseases, including COVID-19. Additional precautions may also apply when carrying out certain high-risk procedures, including Aerosol Generating Medical Procedures (AGMPs).

- Additional precautions include but are not limited to PPE, dedicated equipment, specialized room accommodations, signage, cleaning procedures etc. These can be further divided into:
  - Contact precautions
  - Droplet precautions
  - Airborne precautions

Virtual PPE Orientation Video

Caparica Santos, F.N., Matlow, A., and Glover Takahashi, S. (2020) [Please note that this video has been trimmed to begin at 3:42 and end at 10:10, the original video is 10:44].

Government of Canada (2017); Government of Canada (2020); Public Health Ontario (2012); Public Health Ontario (2020)