Hand Washing
The most common method of spreading germs is through hand contact. Therefore, excellent hand cleansing is the #1 way to prevent infections. All healthcare providers are required to clean their hands either with soap and water or hand sanitizer both when entering and exiting your child's room. Also, all visitors are asked to clean their hands every time they enter and exit a child's hospital room to help prevent the spread of infections.
Healthcare providers at Mott Hospital perform many practices to prevent infections in our patients, including infections caused by devices (i.e., catheters or ventilators), germs that do not respond to antibiotics, and infections after surgery. For information on infection prevention practices and how you can help prevent infections, visit www.med.umich.edu/ice/index.htm and click on Preventing Infections.
Family or Visitor Illnesses
In order to reduce the number of “community” germs entering Mott and to protect our children, all family and visitors must be aware of the following:
- All family members and visitors will be health screened at badging stations before being allowed to enter patient care areas. Child visitors that are ill need to be taken home.
- Any visitor or family member who has been exposed to a communicable disease, such as chickenpox and measles, must not enter patient care areas.
- Any visitor or family member that is sick with a cold, cough, or “flu-like symptoms” should not come to Mott. See our flyer about flu screening.
Certain illnesses that require a patient to be placed under isolation precautions also require anyone visiting that patient to avoid public areas in an effort to prevent the spread of disease. If your child is in isolation, please inform family and visitors to avoid public areas such as the nourishment rooms, child life activity areas, wait areas, Family Center, and the cafeteria.