Preventing infection

Hand hygiene

Good hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to minimise the risk of all healthcare-associated infections.

To help prevent infection, try to:

• Wash your hands before and after visiting the toilet and before all meals
• Tell us if you have been unwell, for example with diarrhoea or vomiting
• Let your nurse know if your bed area or bathroom is dirty

All RMH staff, in both clinical and non-clinical areas, complete hand hygiene education. Our hand hygiene auditors track and report on staff compliance with our hand hygiene standards.

Learn more about our hand hygiene performance.

For patients and visitors, hand cleaning gel pumps are available in public areas of the hospital, at ward entrances and throughout ward areas.

Influenza (flu)

We maintain a high vaccination rate for influenza (flu) among our staff.

COVID-19

We maintain a high vaccination rate among staff for COVID-19.

We monitor COVID-19 trends in the community and our facilities, and adjust our COVID-19 settings as appropriate.

Our current settings and policies are guided by a thorough evaluation of:

• The number of COVID-19 cases in the community – we track COVID-19 data on a weekly basis to make sure our measures align with current community needs
• The number of RMH staff with COVID – we consider the health and safety of our staff as a critical component in our decision-making process
• Our vaccination levels – our high vaccination rates among staff provide an additional layer of protection
• The effectiveness of the measures place – we assess the impact and success of our current safety measures
• The sustainability of the measures in place – we ensure that the measures we implement are sustainable and practical in the long term

Mask-wearing

Patients and visitors may request a face mask from our health services entrances and wards.

In some high-risk areas of the hospital such as the haematology department, patients and visitors may be asked to wear a face mask.

See Visitors and visiting hours for more information about visitor requirements and restrictions.

Air filtration

We have portable HEPA air filters available in clinical areas across our sites.

We have several negative pressure conversion units installed in rooms across multiple wards at the RMH Parkville. These units provide a negative pressure with HEPA-filtered air to direct air from the room away from the corridors.

This helps to keep staff and other patients safe from patients with transmissible respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.