FAQ Home

Should I follow the CDC Guidelines or the INS Standards for Catheter Site Preparation and Maintenance?

This is a policy decision that must be made by individual healthcare providers and their facilities.  Most professional organizations, including the INS, consider Guidelines (which are general recommendations) to be subordinate to Standards (which are minimum performance requirements).

Click here for a copy of the following CDC Guidelines

• Guideline for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections – 2002 (364 Kb)
• Erratum - Guideline for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections – 2002 (91 Kb)
• Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection – 1999 ( 263 Kb)
• Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings – 2002 (402 Kb)
• Guideline for Infection Control in Health-Care Personnel – 1998 (459 Kb)
• Guideline for Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Healthcare Settings – 2006 (235 Kb)
• Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities – 2003 (1.4 Mb)
• Guideline for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings – 2003 (1.2 Mb)

Back to Questions about the CDC

Back to Questions abou the INS