Infection Prevention Measures

Speaker 1: The material contained in this video presentation provides general information on the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This information is for reference purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. For specific information and recommendations based on your health condition, please consult your medical provider.

Teresa Summe: Hi, I'm there Teresa Summe. I'm a registered respiratory therapist and an asthma and COPD educator.

Robert Seifrit: And I am Robert Seifrit. I am also a registered respiratory therapist, as well as an asthma and COPD educator. We're going to be talking about infection prevention measures.

Teresa Summe: Hand hygiene is very important for the prevention of infections. The skin protects us from water loss and acts as a protective barrier from the environment. Transient bacteria is something that's always present on the human skin and acquired by contact with other persons and contact with surfaces. Proper hand washing helps us get rid of that bacteria that's constantly on our hands.

Robert Seifrit: Coughing and sneezing etiquette. It's very important that if we cough or we do sneeze that we cover our mouth and our noses. In the event that you're unable to cover your nose or your mouth, what we want to make sure is, is that you sneeze or cough into your elbow. In addition to that, we want you to use disposable tissues instead of a handkerchief or cloth, because when you use those things, they can harbor harmful bacteria. But when you use that disposable tissue, you want to make sure that you throw them away after use and that you throw them away in a non-touch receptacle. If you find that you end up touching your nose, your mouth or your face, it's always important to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel in addition to either washing your hands if you don't have the gel available.

Teresa Summe: Vaccinations. Vaccinations are important because they reduce infections. It's so important though that you call your doctor provider prior to getting any vaccinations, because they know your whole history. A flu vaccine is something that you receive or get annually or yearly. It's so important because it reduce the risk of any other influenza illnesses, it reduces hospitalizations due to the flu, as well as the length of the hospitalization if you are in there. It also reduces flu-related doctor appointments. Those that are high risk for getting the flu are adults that are 65 years and older, those with chronic lung disease, such as COPD and asthma, those with obesity or weakened immune systems, and people with neurologic conditions, blood disorders, and individuals with heart, kidney, or liver disease and those with diabetes. Please remember, just follow the recommendations of your doctor prior to doing any vaccinations or receiving them.

Robert Seifrit: And now we're going to talk about the pneumonia vaccine. It's recommended that you get the pneumonia vaccine every five years. There's two different types of pneumonia vaccines that can get, so that's why it's really important for you to talk to your healthcare provider to determine which vaccine is best for you to take. It's also important to note that there are benefits to receiving the pneumonia vaccine as well. The benefits of receiving the pneumococcal vaccines is that it keeps your COPD condition from worsening, and it can slow down the progression of your COPD disease.

Now we're going to talk about cleaning your spacer. What's really important to note when cleaning the spacer is, number one, depending on the type of device that you're going to be using, you're always going to follow the manufacturer suggested cleaning instructions for each specific device. But just to give you some general knowledge on how to clean and take care of your spacer, whether you use this type of spacer that has a mouthpiece on it or you use this type of spacer that has a mask, and depending on how big you are, you're going to have a different size mask, it really doesn't matter if it has a small or large mask on it here, like this one, but what's really important to note is you're going to clean these things weekly.

What you're going to do is you're going to take a basin, essentially, full of water and you're going to put it under the sink. You're going to turn on warm tap water. You're going to let the warm tap water run in that basin for a bit, until it fills up. You're going to put a little bit of mild dish detergent, it can be any type of dish detergent that you use at home. You're going to let it fill up and then you're going to turn the sink off. Then what you're going to do is important to note, is you're going to remove the backside of either the mouth piece spacer or the spacer that has the mask, so either of these back sides are removed.

Now, for this specific spacer, you're going to remove the cap, okay? Then you're going to take the spacer and you're going to put it into the warm, soapy water and you're going to soak it for 15 minutes. You're going to repeat the process for this spacer as well, but you're not going to take the mask off, or you're not going to take this piece off here, because if you'll notice inside, in either device inside, there are valves in them that can get damaged. You're going to just soak these two devices as is in the warm basin for 15 minutes.

After you soak them for 15 minutes, what you're going to do is you're going to vigorously shake them back and forth inside the warm, soapy water, and then you're going to take them out. Again, you're going to just turn on the sink water very gently and you're going to rinse water through the device and then slowly rinse water through the mouthpiece as well, in just very gentle water. Then what you're going to do after that is you're going to take this and you're going to lay it on a towel or paper towel and you're let it dry overnight. Then in the morning, you're going to come together and you're going to just go ahead and reassemble this device as such and then you can go ahead and use it. Then you're going to do the same for this device as well.

Always remember, these devices are only good for use for about one year. After one year, there's a coating in these devices, it's an antistatic coating, what ends up happening is, is it wears down. It's recommended really that you replace these devices once every year.

This is cleaning your spacer. It's really important to note there's different types of spacers out in the market. What's really important to note is, is that you really follow the manufacturer's suggested guidelines on how to clean these, but today we just wanted to give you some general cleaning tips on how to care for your spacer. I'll talk about them as we go further in the video.

The first thing you want to do, you see I have a basin here, I turned on the tap water, lukewarm water. I put a little bit of dish detergent into here so it's a little bit sudsy. It's important to make sure it's lukewarm water. The first thing we want to do with our spacer is you're going to pull the rubber backing off here and then you're going to just dip it into the warm, soapy water here. Then you're going to take the cap off. You are not going to remove this piece here, because notice inside it has a valve. If you remove this, you'll crack the valve or you'll ruin the valve. What you're going to do is you're going to soak this in the water for 15 minutes as well.

What I really wanted to note here is inside the spacer itself, you'll see it has an opaque coating in it. All spacers to have this. It's really important to note that this opaque coating in here is called an antistatic coating, so we really want to make sure that we take care of that. We do not want to use any type of brushes or sponges or cloths to clean the inside of this out, okay? It'll ruin the antistatic chamber that's in there that allows the medicine to get really deep into your lungs.

What we'll do is we're going to wash this device in here, we're going to let it soak in there for about 15 minutes. Then after about 15 minutes, what we're going to end up doing is, before we pull it out of the water, we're going to shake it really, really good, take our finger and put it in here and just gently rub the inside. We're going to just do that with this here. We're also going to make sure that the cap is pulled off, we're going to clean it off really nice and easy. Then what we're going to do is, remember, just don't put any type of cloth or sponge or paper towel or any type of thing in here to clean it, you'll wipe away that special coating, okay?

Now we're going to have to rinse our spacer after we washed and soaked it in warm, soapy water for 15 minutes, but now we're going to go about rinsing it. All you're going to do, again, is you see I have a clean basin here with clean tap water in it. It doesn't have to be the lukewarm water, but it's preferred, you can use cool water. All you're going to do is just drop all of these, your spacer in here along with the backing, you're going to shake it around really good until it gets nice and rinsed off.

What you're going to do after that is you're going to make sure you get all the water out of the cap and then drip any excess water here, make sure the cap stays off. Now we're going to take it, we're going to put it on a towel or paper towel, it doesn't matter, make sure it's clean. We're going to let it dry overnight, just like this. Then what we're going to do too with the backing is, is rinse this off nice and good. We're just going to shake off any excess water and we're going to lay this here, down. You're going to see this part here, this is called a reed, this should be reed side up when you're drying it. These two devices, or I'm sorry, this device here, these two pieces, what you're going to do is you'll let them dry overnight.

In the morning, when they're all dry, you're just going to take them and you're going to reassemble them. What's really important to note is the reed side down here if you're referencing the top here, where the cap attaches the actual spacer itself. Then in the morning, you're ready to go.

Teresa Summe: Inhalers. Before you clean your inhaler, it's really I that you wash and dry your hands thoroughly in order to prevent infections. You'll want to take your inhaler and really visually examine the entire thing. You'll want to look at the mouthpiece and you'll want to take an alcohol swab and actually wipe the mouthpiece off each time you use it to avoid recontamination. You'll then look inside the mouthpiece and remove any dust or other particles from the mouthpiece area so your inhaler works the very best that it can. You can use a Q-tip if you would like. Just be careful, again, when cleaning the inside of your inhaler. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for use and cleaning of all equipment.

Robert Seifrit: Travel tips. When we travel, it's really important that we wear a mask when outside our homes and when traveling. We also want to make sure that we keep some physical distancing in between each other, approximately six feet apart from other people. Another thing you really want to do is make sure that when you're sick you stay home. We also want to avoid time touching high-touch surface areas. We also want to wash our hands frequently. In addition to that, we also want to carry hand sanitizer at all times and use that frequently, as needed. It's also important that you get enough sleep so that your body can regenerate itself and you can keep your immune system very healthy. In order to keep your immune system extra healthy, it's also important to keep in mind that if your doctor has prescribed you any vitamins and supplements to take, that those vitamins and supplements can really help you maintain a strong and healthy immune system.

Teresa Summe: Staying healthy. Drinking plenty of water is important. However, some conditions require you to drink less. Check with your doctor before a consuming additional fluids. Water thins the secretions that you expectorate or cough. This is why it's important to drink water, because it helps reduce infections. Your nose's primary and function is to act like the filter for the air you breathe in, to warm the air you breathe, and to humidify the air you breathe into your airways. Regularly rinsing your nasal and sinus passages is crucial to your overall health.

You want to take care of your overall body. You want to make sure you take deep breaths, stretch or meditate, eat healthy, well-balanced meals. You also want to exercise regularly and get plenty of rest and sleep, and avoid alcohol and drugs. Following all of these tips is going to help you reduce infections.

Robert Seifrit: Smoking tobacco. In the US, there are greater than 480,000 deaths that are related to smoking and secondhand smoke exposure. Smoking tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Tobacco smoke consists of three different things, or devices. It's either cigarettes, cigars or e-cigarettes. Those three things comprise tobacco smoke. Another important thing to note here is, is that individuals with COPD are more susceptible to developing lung infections secondary to the following reasons. They have an inability to clear their lungs of bacteria adequately, which can lead to lung infections such as pneumonia, causing further potential damage to the airways. There are also additional health consequences listed at the bottom of the slide to consider for those who smoke tobacco.

Thank you.