General Information

All clinicians, staff, and students must be familiar with the infectious disease protocols.
The senior clinician is ultimately responsible for ensuring each case is managed in compliance with established protocols.
No action will be taken to prejudice the health of the patient or other patients in the hospital.
The Infectious Disease Committee (or IDC chair/co-chair) will arbitrate any queries or disagreement over interpretation of the protocol and will investigate any failure to comply with a decision.
Any subsequent variations to a procedure must be approved by the IDC.
All hospitalized animals are to be assigned their own digital thermometer for their exclusive use.
Appropriate attire in the Farm Animal Hospital is considered as either a clean pair of scrubs, or a clean pair of overalls each day. Please wear closed, waterproof shoes that can easily be cleaned/disinfected.

Special consideration for initial workup and housing location(s) should be given prior to unloading any animal with a history or clinical signs that suggests a potential contagious and/or zoonotic disease (e.g., respiratory disease, diarrhea, neurologic symptoms, mucosal lesions etc.) as indicated on the FA infectious disease chart.
Animals with histories or clinical signs strongly suggestive of a disease requiring restriction or isolation should be unloaded directly into the appropriate area, preventing possible contamination of central use areas.
The senior clinician on duty should be consulted prior to unloading any animal for which there are potential infectious disease/zoonotic concerns.
For animals with a suspected zoonotic disease (e.g., rabies, Cryptosporidium spp.), a contact log must be initiated as soon as the animal is unloaded as indicated on the Farm Animal Suspect Infectious Disease Chart. An email should be sent to LAZoonotic@lists.ncsu.edu email listserv to alert the hospital of the potential infectious disease risk.
A patient presenting with a non-healing wound, or other non-healing infection site, despite previous antibiotic administration by the RDVM or by NCSU CVM clinicians, must have a wound/infection site swab submitted for culture and susceptibility to MMD. Swabs should be collected at the time of admission.

Hand hygiene is to be maintained through the NC State Veterinary Hospital Hand Hygiene Guide.
The hospital’s standard practice is to apply a clean pair of exam gloves directly before handling any patient.
Exam gloves “belong” to the patient. This means you apply clean gloves directly before handling the patient and dispose of them immediately upon finishing your treatment / examination.
- Common mistakes include applying exam gloves, then using a keyboard, using a computer mouse, going to prep meds, leaving the area and touching door handles, etc, before handling the patient. This creates the potential for the gloves to be contaminated before ever touching the patient.
- The other mistake is failing to dispose of the exam gloves immediately following examination or treatment. You then risk contaminating the environment around you, like keyboards, desktops, door knobs, etc.