Preventing Colds and ‘Flu - CareforKids.com.au ®

Preventing Colds and ‘Flu

It’s the middle of winter and colds and ‘flu are at their peak. Most children, whether in care or not, sport a runny nose at this time of year and most child carers spend the whole day with a tissue in hand ready to catch the never ending drips.

While child care centres will never be able to eradicate colds and ‘flu completely there are a number of steps you can take to reduce their spread. Use our article as a refresher to make sure you and your staff are doing all you can to keep the dreaded lurgies at bay.

Controlling Infection
Infection control requires child care centres to break the four step cycle of infection spread as described below:

A person with an infection spreads the germs into their environment for example by coughing or wiping a runny nose with the back of a hand and then touching a toy.
The germ survives in its new environment which could be in food or water or on toys and/or surfaces.
Another person comes into contact with the germ.
This person then becomes infected and can spread the germ.

The most effective ways of breaking this cycle of infection are to encourage regular hand washing by staff and children, to exclude staff and children from the centre when they are sick and to promote immunisation.

If these measures aren’t followed then many of the other processes which support infection control, such as cleaning and food safety procedures will not work so well.

Hand Washing

The best way to control the spread of infection in a child care centre is to encourage regular and effective hand washing and drying by staff and children.

The best way to encourage hand washing is to ensure hand basins are readily accessible and located where they are most needed, for example near toilets, nappy change areas, food preparation areas and outdoors.

Hand basins the right size and height for staff and children need to be available and providing soap dispensers, hands free taps and paper towels should help promote regular washing. Babies also need their hands washed just as regularly and thoroughly as older children.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommends the following method for hand washing in child care centres.

How to Wash Hands
The process of thoroughly washing and rinsing your hands should take 10-15 seconds. This is about as long as it takes to sing 'Happy Birthday' twice.

Wet hands with running water
Use liquid soap and spread it over both hands.
Rub hands vigorously.
Wash hands all over paying attention to the palms, backs of hands, between fingers, finger nails and wrists.
Rinse hands thoroughly and remove all the suds.
Turn off the tap using a paper towel.
Dry your hands with a new paper towel.

Download a free NHMRC poster to remind staff and children how to wash their hands properly here

When staff should wash their hands:

On arrival at the centre, this reduces the introduction of germs.
Before handling food, including baby bottles
Before eating
After changing a nappy
After removing gloves
After going to the toilet
After cleaning up blood, faeces or vomit
After wiping a nose, either a child’s or their own
Before giving medication
After handling rubbish
After coming in from outside play
Before going home, this prevents staff from taking germs home.

When children should wash their hands

When they arrive at the centre. This reduces the introduction of germs and parents can assist.
Before handling food, including baby bottles
Before and after eating and handling food
After nappy changes as their hands will become contaminated while they are on the change mat
After going to the toilet
After coming in from outside play
After touching nose secretions
After coming in contact with blood, faeces or vomit;
Before joining the mixed age group
Before going home. This prevents them from taking germs home and parents can assist.

Exclusion Policies
Excluding sick staff and children from the centre plays a very important role in controlling the spread of infection. Most parents will appreciate a centre’s efforts to prevent and control the spread of infection. However exclusion policies can be difficult to enforce when parents put a lot of pressure on centre staff to allow the children to attend child care even when they are sick.

The best way to avoid conflict is to have a written policy that clearly states the centre’s exclusion criteria. A copy of this policy should be on public display and given to all parents as they enroll their child in the centre.

The need for exclusion should depend on; the ease with which the infection can be spread, the ability of the infected person to follow hygiene procedures and the severity of the disease.

Refer to the NHMRC’s guidelines provided at the end of this article for advice on recommended exclusion periods.

Immunisation

Universal childhood immunisation is the third prong in the battle against infection and Is the most effective way of preventing certain common infections.

Parents should be asked to provide a copy of their child’s immunisation records on enrolment at the centre and the parents of children who are not immunised should be advised that their children may be excluded from care during outbreaks of certain infectious diseases such as measles and whooping cough even if the child is well.

The NHMRC recommends vaccination for all children and suggests that child care providers play an active role in encouraging parents to have their children vaccinated. Ways to encourage parents to vaccinate and keep their vaccinations up-to-date include:

Put up reminder posters around the centre about key vaccination ages
Send children home with first birthday immunisation reminder cards
Send children home with fourth birthday immunisation reminder cards
Regularly review children’s vaccination records and send reminder cards to parents
Include a reminder message at the bottom of receipts or in newsletters

Infection control relies on the consistent application of the above range of fairly straightforward measures. By working to ensure staff and children at your centre are informed about your policies and procedures you’ll hopefully keep this year’s ‘flu season a short one!

Further Reading
Staying Healthy in Child Care 4th Edition