Protective isolation or reverse isolation denotes the practices used for protecting vulnerable persons for contracting an

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

. When people with

weakened immune system Immunodeficiency, also known as immunocompromise, is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious diseases and cancer is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases are acquired ("secondary") due to extrinsic factors that affec ...

s are exposed to organisms, it could lead to infection and serious complications. It is sometimes practiced in patients with severe

burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ionizing radiation (such as sunburn, caused by ultraviolet radiation). Most burns are due to heat from hot fluids (called scalding), soli ...

s and

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

, or those undergoing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

. When reverse isolation is practiced in

laminar air flow Laminar means "flat". Laminar may refer to: Terms in science and engineering: * Laminar electronics or organic electronics, a branch of material sciences dealing with electrically conductive polymers and small molecules * Laminar armour or "band ...

or high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered rooms, there was an improvement in survival for patients receiving bone marrow or stem cell grafts. __TOC__

Precautions

When a person is in protective isolation, the room should be properly cleaned and ventilated. Only necessary furniture should be present in the room. Hand hygiene products such as hand sanitizer, soap, paper towels, and gloves should be made available. The hospital staff and visitors shall use protective clothing and equipment while visiting the person under protective isolation. The number of visitors should be limited and sick people should not visit the person who is under protective isolation. Dedicated medical equipment is used for the patient, and in cases where equipment should be shared, it is cleaned with a disinfectant.

Consequences

A small study showed that children brought up under protective isolation have been reported to have less self-generated activity, including motor and motor-based cognitive skills.

References

{{reflist Infection-control measures Nursing Medical hygiene Isolation (health care)