On this page: Background | Educational Resources | Setting-Specific Resources | Regulatory Resources
Background
Infection prevention and control needs may vary across different healthcare settings, procedures, and patients. Healthcare workers may need to apply standard, transmission-based (e.g., airborne, contact, droplet), or enhanced barrier precautions depending on the situation and setting. These precautions may have different applications depending on the healthcare setting involved.
Standard precautions are a set of basic infection prevention practices that are used for the care of all patients at all times. These standard practices protect healthcare personnel from infection and prevent the spread of disease from patient to patient.
Standard precautions include:
- Perform hand hygiene
- Use personal protective equipment
- Follow respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette principles
- Ensure appropriate patient/resident placement
- Properly handle and properly clean and disinfect patient/resident care equipment and instruments/devices. Clean and disinfect the environment appropriately.
- Handle textiles and laundry carefully
- Follow safe injection practices, including wearing a surgical mask when performing lumbar punctures
- Ensure healthcare worker safety including proper handling of needles and other sharps
Standard precautions are essential to help prevent infections during delivery of numerous types of health care, including respiratory care and wound care.
There are three types of Transmission-Based Precautions:
- Contact Precautions (for diseases spread by direct or indirect contact)
- Droplet Precautions (for diseases spread by large particles in the air)
- Airborne Precautions (for diseases spread by small particles in the air)
Each type of precautions has some unique prevention steps that should be taken, but all have Standard Precautions as their foundation.
Enhanced Barrier Precautions are only used in nursing homes. They can be applied (when Contact Precautions do not otherwise apply) to residents with any of the following:
- Wounds or indwelling medical devices, regardless of multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) colonization status
- MDRO infection or colonization
Educational Resources
Enhanced Barrier Precautions
- Standard, Transmission-Based, and Enhanced Barrier Precautions (for nursing homes)
- EBP Implementation Algorithm (July 2025)
- EBP Poster (August 2025)
- EBP Frequently Asked Questions (August 2024)
- EBP Quick Guide for Nursing Home Infection Preventionists
- Enhanced Barrier Precautions for Nursing Homes Presentation (March 2024)
Transmission-Based Precautions
- Room Closure Sign for Airborne Precautions
- Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions (for all healthcare settings other than nursing homes)
- VDH Quick Guides for Nursing Home Infection Preventionists
Respiratory Program
VDH Infection Prevention and Control Assessments: The HAI/AR team is available to conduct a no-cost, non-regulatory, onsite visit to help a facility identify its infection prevention strengths and areas of opportunity.
Standard Precautions
- Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Recommendations for Application of Standard Precautions for the Care of All Patients in All Healthcare Settings
- Standard Precautions Basics
- Standard Precautions Observation Tools
- The Basics of Standard Precautions (training)
Transmission-Based Precautions
- Isolation Precautions Guidelines
- Transmission-Based Precautions
- Transmission-Based Precautions Observation Tools
- Transmission-Based Precautions Infection Control Assessment Tool
- Training: Transmission-Based Precautions
- Transmission-Based Precautions Sign Examples
Project Firstline - CDC’s Project Firstline provides innovative and accessible infection control education for all frontline healthcare workers.
Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Group
- Virginia Infection Prevention and Control Training Alliance (VIPTA) - search the education and training resource library for resources related to your topic of interest
VCU Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center
- Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center (VIPTC) - courses and trainings related to infection prevention and control
- Contact Precautions (video)
Setting-Specific Resources
CDC Interfacility Transfer Form - The patient transfer form helps make it easier to share information when patients are moved between different places for care. Hospitals and groups focused on making patient safety better can change and use this form to fit their needs.
Infection control precautions resources specific to clinic settings:
Dental Settings
- Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in Dental Settings: Basic Expectations for Safe Care (CDC)
Dialysis Settings
Outpatient Settings
- Guide to Infection Prevention in Outpatient Settings (CDC)
- Infection Prevention Checklist for Outpatient Settings (CDC)
View Clinics homepage
Infection control precautions resources specific to long-term care settings:
Nursing Homes
- APIC Resources
- CDC Enhanced Barrier Precautions
- EBP website
- Observation tool and summary spreadsheet
- Videos, posters, and pocket guide
- Sample letters
- Nursing home leadership
- Nursing home residents, families, friends, and volunteers
- Nursing home staff
- EBP example sign
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CMS Resources
- VDH Resources
- Standard, Transmission-Based, and Enhanced Barrier Precautions (for nursing homes)
- EBP Frequently Asked Questions (August 2024)
- EBP Implementation Algorithm (November 2024)
- EBP Poster (August 2025)
- Enhanced Barrier Precautions for Nursing Homes Presentation (March 2024)
- VDH Quick Guides for Nursing Home Infection Preventionists
Regulatory Resources
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- CMS Enhanced Barrier Precautions Memo (3/20/2024)