Preventing Hospital Associated Infections
Booth, K. A. (2016). Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). Journal Of
Continuing Education Topics & Issues, 18(1), 18-23
Booth who is part of a software company that specializes in educational solutions for allied health and nursing education discuss the prevention of hospital acquired infections. Healthcare associated infections previously known as nosocomial infections are infections that occur secondary due to numerous different factors. Many of these infections are spread due to the lack of attention from their health care providers. There are guidelines for standard precautions which should be followed. The most important standard precaution to help prevent the spread of these
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Garrett, the vice president of clinical affairs for PDI and president of the board of directors for Vascular Assess Certifications Corporations discusses prevention of HIAs, (hospital acquired infections), in the outpatient setting. All units in health care should have a team of individuals in which they would provide healthcare professionals with information about preventing these infections. Over the years there has been an increase of patients getting surgery in the outpatient setting, causing these patients to be at a higher risk for acquiring HAIs. There are five aspects to help decrease HAI in the outpatient setting which are: ongoing training and education for staff members, surveillance and public reporting, injection safety by preventing inappropriate reuse of needles and syringes and environmental cleaning to ensure a non-contaminated area for the use of the next patient. Health associated infections are mostly spread by health care workers or from other patients. Not only are infections spread in the hospital there has been a huge increase in the outpatient setting. This is valuable information because by preventing the spread of these diseases it helps decrease costs for patients and provide for a safer recovery. Therefore, by having both the patient and the health care providers pay special attention to washing hands, the spread of these organisms will …show more content…
Patients known to acquire these infections are of advanced age, immunosuppressed, had an invasive procedure or multiple of these problems. These infections are associated with serious complications or could even lead to death in some cases. The most frequent types of these infections are: urinary-tract infections due to the use of indwelling catheters, surgical wounds due to the break in the skin barrier, nosocomial pneumonia due to endotracheal intubation and nosocomial bloodstream from having an indwelling central catheter. Hospitals have implemented ongoing education for staff where they provide advice and guidance along with new strategies to help decrease these infections; three strategies: standard safety precautions, transmission based and special precautions. Understanding what patients are at risk will help prevent these infections from occurring. This information is valuable for research as it has valuable insight into how antibiotic administration should be administered for these types of infections. These antibiotics being tailored to the individual could stop many nosocomial infections due to the fact that prolonged use of antibiotics could lead to antibiotic resistant organisms. Therefore, we can conclude from Booth and Garrett that handwashing is one of the main preventions of these infections whereas prescribing to a patient’s
BioPatch, and alternatives like Tegaderm CHG, are an important first step in helping prevent catheter-related bloodstream infections (CBIs). As CBIs rank among the most frequent and potentially lethal nosocomial infections, the need for a device to cut down infections at the insertion site has increased. The growing numbers of infections has driven companies to consider a three-tiered approach: a maximal aseptic barrier at insertion, proper site maintenance, and hub protection. With BioPatch and alternative products catheter sites receive that maximal aseptic barrier to prevent bacteria growth.
Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) are preventable and pose a threat to hospitals and patients; increasing the cost, nominally and physically, for both. Pneumonia makes up approximately 15% of all HAI and is the leading cause of nosocomial deaths. Pneumonia is most frequently caused by bacterial microorganisms reaching the lungs by way of aspiration, inhalation or the hematogenous spread of a primary infection. There are two categories of Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (HAP); Health-Care Associated Pneumonia (HCAP) and Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
Catheter Acquired Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) has become to be classified as one among the leading infections which most individuals end up being susceptible to acquire while at the hospital. Healthcare-associated or acquired infections (HAIs) are a significant cause of illness, death, and more often than not, have resulted to cost the tax payers potentially high medical expenses in most health care settings. ("Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality," para. 1) Due to this, 1 out of every 20 patients will end up with CAUTI within the US hospitals and this has caused Agency for healthcare research and quality (AHRQ) to embark on nationwide plans to help in the eradication and control of CAUTI incidences. ("Agency
Nosocomial or healthcare-associated infection (HAI) occurs when a patient receiving treatment in a health care setting develops an infection secondary to their original condition. These infections are serious and costly adverse outcomes of medical care that affect nearly two million people in the United States annually and lead to substantial morbidity and mortality. With increased days of hospitalization and direct medical costs, HAIs account for an estimated $20 billion per year in national health care expenditure every year. As such, they present one of the major threats to patient safety and remain a critical challenge to public health. On any given day, approximately [one in 25 patients] contracts at least one infection while receiving
Life History and Characteristics: Staphylococcus aureus is a gram positive bacterium that is usually found in the nasal passages and on the skin of 15 to 40% of healthy humans, but can also survive in a wide variety of locations in the body. This bacterium is spread from person to person or to fomite by direct contact. Colonies of S. aureus appear in pairs, chains, or clusters. S. aureus is not an organism that is contained to one region of the world and is a universal health concern, specifically in the food handling industries.
Direct legal issues that result in inadequate infection-control practices, medical costs of healthcare-associated infections and the amount of deaths that have occurred due to these preventable infections are the main targeted issues that will focus on this project. Reporting requirements of HAIs vary from state to state, provider, facility, frequency, and type of infection. Due to this, there is inconsistency in the methods of data collected, risk management, data validation, and the requirement or reporting HAIs. The legal requirements and statutes that mandate disclosure of errors need to be addressed in order to reduce and prevent HAIs. In addition, the discussion of legal duties and responsibilities of the care providers, facilities and patients are discussed.
The purpose of his article was to find a better way to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) and explain what could be done to make healthcare facilities safer. The main problem that Cole presented was a combination of crowded hospitals that are understaffed with bed management problems and inadequate isolation facilities, which should not be happening in this day and age (Cole, 2011). He explained the “safety culture properties” (Cole, 2011) that are associated with preventing infection in healthcare; these include justness, leadership, teamwork, evidence based practice, communication, patient centeredness, and learning. If a healthcare facility is not honest about their work and does not work together, the patient is much more likely to get injured or sick while in the
This literature review will analyze and critically explore four studies that have been conducted on hand hygiene compliance rates by Healthcare workers (HCWs). Firstly, it will look at compliance rates for HCWs in the intensive care units (ICU) and then explore the different factors that contribute to low hand hygiene compliance. Hospital Acquired infections (HAI) or Nosocomial Infections appear worldwide, affecting both developed and poor countries. HAIs represent a major source of morbidity and mortality, especially for patients in the ICU (Hugonnet, Perneger, & Pittet, 2002). Hand hygiene can be defined as any method that destroys or removes microorganisms on hands (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). According to the World Health Organization (2002), a HAI can be defined as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other health care facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. The hands of HCWs transmit majority of the endemic infections. As
The role of nurses in the prevention of MRSA in the hospitals cannot be overemphasized. The prevalence of MRSA in hospitals calls for awareness and sensitization of all party involved in patient caregiving in the hospital. According to Wilkinson and Treas (2011), nurses take on many roles in the hospital: a caregiver, advocate, communicator, leader, manager counsellor, change agent and an educator. (Wilkinson &Treas. (2011) p.13.) The target of healthy people 2020 is to reduce MRSA and all other hospital acquired infection by 75% in the year 2020. (Healthy people 2020) This cannot be achieved without the maximum support of nurses because nurses have regular one on one contact with patients on daily basis.This paper will take a closer look at the role of a nurse as an educator in the prevention of MRSA in the hospital. One of the nurse’s roles in the prevention of MRSA in hospitals is patient/visitor/staff education.
Central lines (CL) are used frequently in hospitals throughout the world. They are placed by trained health care providers, many times nurses, using sterile technique but nosocomial central line catheter associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) have been a dangerous issue. This is a problem that nurses need to pay particular attention to, and is a quality assurance issue, because CLABSI’s “are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and health care costs” (The Joint Commission, 2012). There have been numerous studies conducted, with the objective to determine steps to take to decrease CLABSI infection rate, and research continues to be ongoing today. The problem is prevalent on many nursing units, with some patients at great risk than others, but some studies have shown if health care providers follow the current literature, or evidence based guidelines, CLABSIs can be prevented (The Joint Commission, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to summarize current findings related to this topic, and establish a quality assurance (QA) change plan nurses can implement for CL placement and maintenance, leading to decreased risk of nosocomial CLABSIs.
Hospital acquired infections are spread by numerous routes including contact, intravenous routes, air, water, oral routes, and through surgery. The most common types of infections in hospitals include urinary tract infections (32%), surgical site infections (22%), pneumonia (15%), and bloodstream infections (14%). ( book). The most common microorganisms associated with the types of infections are Esherichila coli, Enterococcus species, Staphylococcus auerus, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.(secondary) Urinary tract infections occur when one or more of microorganisms enter the urinary system and affect the bladder and/or the kidneys. These infections are often associated improper catheterization technique. Surgical site infections occur after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. These infections may involve the top of the skin, the tissue under the skin, organs, or blood vessels. Surgical site infections sometimes take days or months after surgery to develop. The infections can be cause by improper hand washing, dressing change technique, or improper surgery procedure. Pneumonia can also become a hospital acquired infection. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a type of lung in...
The infection control plays an important role for the prevention from bacteria and other microorganism that may affect the condition of the patient.
...s and measurement to decrease healthcare- associated infections. American Journal Of Infection Control, pp. S19-S25. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2012.02.008.
Patient safety must be the first priority in the health care system, and it is widely accepta-ble that unnecessary harm to a patient must be controlled.Two million babies and mother die due to preventable medical errors annually worldwide due to pregnancy related complications and there is worldwide increase in nosocomial infections, which is almost equal to 5-10% of total admissions occurring in the hospitals. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Total 1.4 million patients are victims of hospital-acquired infection. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Unsafe infection practice leads to 1.3 million death word wide and loss of 26 millions of life while ad-verse drug events are increasing in health care and 10% of total admitted patients are facing ad-verse drug events. (WHO Patient Safety Re...
Hand hygiene prevents the transmission of pathogens from one person to another, the importance of hand hygiene is universally recognized and evidence based and is the key intervention in preventing disease (Babeluk, Jutz, Mertlitz, Matiasek, & Klaus, 2014). Healthcare associated infections occur when germs are transferred from health care provider 's hands to a patient and affect 1 in 25 hospitalized patients per day, about 75,000 people die from these infections per year (CDC). Healthcare associated infections can affect anyone but the elderly, very young, people with cancer or diseases, impaired immunity, very ill and surgical patients are at an increase risk of healthcare associated infections (HCAI 's). HCAI 's in these groups of people