Infection Control

Paul Elliott has drawn together a thought-provoking collection of topics that together explain the psychology of infection prevention and control. This is a book about how to change and improve practice, written by people who understand the trade of infection prevention and control. Reflection exercises are cleverly used throughout the text to provoke the reader to think of their own experiences in and their practice of healthcare. The reader is led into considering how improvements can be made to the delivery of infection prevention and control, and at the same time to understand why the way we think ultimately determines the likelihood of their success. Each reflection exercise is accompanied by clear and concise explanations, helping the reader to analyse and critique him/ herself and the way we do things now.

Section 1: Outlining the major issues - The nature of infect control. Perspectives from the clinical setting. Legal issues. Biomedical vs biopsychosocial perspectives. Psychosocial theories and approaches in perspective. The interrelated nature of a psychosocial approach. Section 2: Towards achieving consistent safe practice - The complexities of behaviour change. Clown doctors. Reflection as a facilitator of safe practice. Clinical supervision as a facilitator of safe practice. Facilitating safe practice through education. Challenging the status quo. Raising public awareness: failure to inform, failure to protect and health inequalities.