Post Op Patients / Isolation

My unit is having some trouble finding information regarding whether or not a post-op patient needs to have "dedicated staff". With this, I mean a nurse/CNA who has a post-op patient will not also be assigned to a patient who is on isolation, even if it's a history of MRSA, VRE, or other MRDO. I've contacted the CDC who has not gotten back to me yet. I work on a neurosurgical unit, so our post-op patients are craniotomies, spinal surgeries, etc. The Neurosurgeons have concerns about staff going from isolation patients to one of their post-op patients. Our infection prevention dept says there is no reason why post-ops and isolations can't share staff, but the surgeons disagree.

If anyone is able to email me their own facilities infection control policy if it addresses this issue, feel free to message me on here.

Can anyone help me find some literature about this?
I'm guessing that the main problem with is that staff doesn't always wear the ppe associated with the isolation patient. We're supposed to gown up every single time we step into the room whether or not we're touching the patient...most of us don't. Only 1/2 of clinical hospital employees even wash their hands consistently which would endanger post-op patients. However, if you gown up properly...I don't see how it would be a problem. Your hospital should have an epidemiologist who can give you more facts/statistics on this subject.

On my ortho unit, it's not unusual for nursing staff to have one ISO and 2 or 3 fresh post-ops. Generally we try and split up the ISOs so a nurse has no more than one, but to not have at least one post-op would be impossible and impractical on such a dynamic unit, unless they increased the quota of nurses... and I don't see that happening.Your department should be questioning why staff aren't following proper PPE protocol instead of trying to enforce unrealistic expectations.

And how do we stop the docs from goimg to the iso patients first then their postops?Do the docs consistently see the postop pts before they gown up? HAHAHAHA!!!

I never mentioned staff not using PPE. I don't know where that came from?

Quote from himilayaneyesI'm guessing that the main problem with is that staff doesn't always wear the ppe associated with the isolation patient. We're supposed to gown up every single time we step into the room whether or not we're touching the patient...most of us don't.

I'm surprised that the surgeons' wishes are not your commands.

No you do not need dedicated staff to take care of your post-ops. IF all staff are using "standard precautions" as outlined by the CDC and appropriate isolation policies then there is absolutely no reason to do this. You will getting into a real slippery slope here if you bow to their demands. What happens if 80 % of your patients on in isolation and you do not have enough staff to continue their plan? What about nurses helping other nurses...so if you are the clean team and you have to assist in an isolation room..then what? These are just a few examples but you can see where I am going with this. The surgeons need to focus on the things that are proven to reduce surgical site infections...such as abx administration before cut time ( I think its one hr before cut time)....d/c abx at 24 hr point (if no extenuating circumstances) ....appropriate prepping...surgical asepsis techniques. I am sure there are others. There solution is not practical..necessary...or needed.