Summary Of Nosocomial Infection

Statement of Problem and Significance

A total of 1.7 million nosocomial infections occurred in 2007. Almost 99,000 deaths resulted from, or were associated with, a nosocomial infection, making these infections the sixth leading cause of death in the United States (Peleg, Hooper). Nosocomial infections, also known as “hospital-acquired infections”, are infections acquired during hospital care that were not present before admission. Infections occurring within 48 hours of hospital admission, 3 days of discharge or 30 days of an operation can also be classified as nosocomial (Inweregbu, Dave, Pittard). These infections are most commonly found in intensive care units. A study known as “The European Prevalence of Infection in Intensive Care Study”

Administrators will do so through the regular review of procedures, surveillance of compliance and accountability. All hospital staff will need to attend yearly training on procedures. Employees will be required to report violations, and administrators will receive a report at the end of each week with documentation of any possible nosocomial infections. Not only will this system keep all employees knowledgeable on procedures and allow hospitals to sense its weak points with precision, but accountability will also keep the acceptable number of infections at zero, and maintain infection control at the forefront of everyone’s

They want to be healed, not to contract a separate infection. Unfortunately, with rising nosocomial infection rates, 1.7 people are going into a hospital and staying there because of another ailment. These infections are costing the healthcare system billions of dollars for the increased use of drugs, need for isolation, and use of additional laboratory and other diagnostic studies. The infections are also costing lives. As the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, nosocomial infection lead to the deaths of 100,000 people per year. These deaths can be avoided by an improved adherence to current infection protocols and rigorous identification of weaknesses. Hospital administrators will require all hospital personnel to attend annual procedure recertification, and institute an infection control committee to investigate every infection. For years, hospitals have evaluated their performance by comparing themselves to the national average. It did not matter as long as they were below the national average, but as the infection rates climb, the only acceptable benchmark can be