A patient on Contact Precautions has to share a multi-patient room. What separation between beds is advised?

1. A single-patient room is preferred for Contact Precautions, so a shared room is already a fallback. 2. In multi-patient rooms a spatial separation of at least 3 feet between beds is advised. 3. The purpose is to reduce inadvertent sharing of items between the infected or colonized patient and the other patients. 4. Six, ten and twelve feet are larger than what is advised here and are not the stated figure. 5. The same 3 feet figure appears for droplet spread, which is why it is easy to assume a bigger distance applies to contact spread. 6. Distance does not replace the gown and gloves, which are still worn for every interaction. _Source: CDC Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings (2007), Part III, section III.B.1. Contact precautions_