What is it called when all patients are treated as if they have an infectious disease?

The concept of treating all patients as if they have an infectious disease is known as Standard Precautions. This approach is essential in healthcare settings to minimize the risk of spreading infections. Standard Precautions encompass a set of practices designed to prevent transmission of diseases, regardless of a patient's known infection status. This includes guidelines such as hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and safe handling of sharps and other potentially contaminated materials.

By applying Standard Precautions, healthcare professionals ensure a uniform level of safety for both themselves and their patients. It emphasizes the importance of wearing gloves, masks, eye protection, and gowns when appropriate, which protects against the potential exposure to blood, bodily fluids, and other infectious materials.

In contrast, while Universal Precautions was a term used historically to address potential exposure to bloodborne pathogens specifically, Standard Precautions have superseded it to provide broader coverage, thus clarifying that safety measures should be applied universally to all patients. This evolution in terminology reflects a comprehensive approach to infection control in modern healthcare. The other options, such as environmental hygiene and infection control, are related concepts but do not specifically define the practice of treating all patients as if they have an infectious disease.