New contact, droplet, airborne transmission paradigms for IPC sum-up

1 months ago

Sorry for coming to this series a bit late. I found the discussion around contact, droplet and airborne transmission really interesting. For disclosure, I am not an IPC expert or aerosol scientist. I am a student nurse with a long commercial background in infection control, mainly medical-device reprocessing, and I also have some commercial interests that may overlap with this discussion. My concern is mainly with the term “Respiratory Precautions.” I understand the reasoning behind moving away from the old droplet-versus-airborne split, but does “respiratory” risk making people think only about particles coming from, or entering through, the nose and mouth? Particles can become airborne from other sources as well, including skin, wounds, vomiting, toileting, bed-making and some procedures involving other parts of the body. They may also reach someone through the eyes, broken skin or later hand-to-face contact, rather than just being inhaled. So my question is: does the term “respiratory” make the category a bit too narrow? Would something based more directly on airborne transmission be clearer, while still keeping the simpler two-part approach? Interested to hear what others think.