Is Hospital Acquired Infections?

Checking in to the hospital comes with a heavy price tag, and sometimes you get more than what you bargained for. As highly trained doctors, nurses, and staff make their way through the hospital, they carry with them microbial agents of disease. Although regarded as centers for treatment and prevention, hospitals are also known to harbor nosocomial, healthcare-associated, bacterial infections. These infections can be a result of overused or inappropriately used antibiotics and the breaching of infection containment policies by patients and staff. Though health-care-associated infections have been decreasing, one infection inciting nosocomial bacterial, Clostridium difficile has been rampant. It is important that inefficiencies in health-care be met with stringent efforts for prevention as they may lead to distressing financial, emotional, and medical repercussions.

Implementation of patient care practices for infection control is the role of the nursing staff. Nurses are responsible for maintaining hygiene, consistent with hospital policies and good nursing practice on the ward and monitoring aseptic techniques, including hand-washing and use of isolation. It is also in their scope of practice to promptly report to the attending physician any evidence of infection in patients under the nurse’s care and initiating patient isolation and ordering culture specimens from any patient showing signs of a communicable disease, when the physician is not immediately available. Limiting patient exposure to infections from visitors, hospital staff, other patients, or equipment used for diagnosis or treatment and maintaining

Through medical advances in technology and practice, nurses have been afforded the opportunity to provide lifesaving care to patients. However, this lifesaving care comes with the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Generally speaking, HAIs are infections directly related with the delivery of healthcare and are often caused by viral, bacterial or

Checking in to the hospital comes with a heavy price tag, and sometimes you get more than what you bargained for. As highly trained doctors, nurses, and staff traverse through the hospital, they carry with them microbial agents of disease. Although regarded as centers for treatment and prevention, hospitals are also known to harbor nosocomial, healthcare-associated, bacterial infections. These infections can be a result of overused or inappropriately used antibiotics and the breaching of infection containment policies by patients and staff. Though healthcare-associated infections have been decreasing, one infection inciting nosocomial bacterium,

Hospital acquired infections (HAI) will begin to display signs and symptoms within 48 hours. In order to treat the infections, physicians need to diagnostic tools quickly. The manufacturer of new diagnostic test makers, Kalorama Information stated last year that the world demand for testing and treatment of HAI will be over 10 billion dollars by the year 2015, increasing from 9 billion dollars in 2010. Kalorama also stated that HAI has a 5% infection rate of 40 million hospital visits a year, causing 100,000 deaths in the U.S. annually (Kalorama Information, July 14, 2011). Early diagnosis will improve the patient's outcome and decrease the chance of death. According to Kalorama, 20-30% of the HAI can be prevented by the simple use of better hand washing and cross contamination avoidance although the others need more intensive changes such as hospital ventilation systems and using more disposable supplies (Kalorama Information, p. 113) .

Hospital-Acquired Infections entail, urinary tract infections, pneumonia and bloodstream infections. In addition to the patients, the Infections tend also to affect the healthcare workers who usually take care of the patients who are the main sources of the of the infectious diseases in the hospitals. The project tends to investigate the best evidence-based practices and approaches used to reduce the rate transmission and spread of the HAIs, such as washing of hands by healthcare workers. The statement of the problem focuses on the best methods and efforts that can be developed and implemented in the hospitals with the objective of preventing the Hospital Acquired Infections contributed by healthcare workers and the patients who come for treatments at the hospitals (CDC, 2016).

Restate Incorrect use of equipments / Sanitation Many factors go into hospital acquired illnesses. All in all, the takeaway is that hospitals have much more to them behind what you may think. It can be hurting the patient rather than taking care of them.

Microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites can be transmitted to patients via poor quality cross infection control measures e.g. inadequate cleaning, disinfecting and sterilising of instruments, equipments and surfaces around the hospital

As a leader in health care, it is important that employees have the proper education and training for compliance with infection control. An infection control practitioner should be assigned surveillance of infections, calculate infection rates, and report these numbers to the appropriate personnel. Clinical nurses, such as nurses, should have periodic evaluations to ensure they are practicing patient safety. There are many other key factors that should be implemented in health care facilities to improve infection control. First is hand hygiene; there could be random observers periodically monitoring a certain floor or department for hand sanitation practices. Secondly, is the health care environment. This includes, making sure employees are sanitizing surfaces and equipment, educating visitors and families on infection control measures, and properly using personal protective equipment. Improper use, wear, and removal of personal protective equipment can cause serious health consequences to the worker and the patients, which means employees need be continuously trained and educated on this equipment.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections patients can acquire in a healthcare facility while being given medical care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website notes six major sites of infection that patients are at risk of acquiring while receiving care in acute care hospitals in the United States: pneumonia, gastrointestinal illness, urinary tract infections, primary bloodstream infections, surgical site infections from any inpatient surgery, and other types of infections. Their website recounts that as early as 1847 evidence is documented of persons acquiring infections while receiving care in a hospital. The website for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Agency for Healthcare Research

As a hospital, quality care should be a priority for patients that are going to be treated for a sickness, or any type of procedure that is going to take place. A lot of times a patient gets an infection while they were at the hospital, on top of being treated for what they original came in for. Health facilities should be environments of healing, which they are, but they also have tons of various types of germs and infections, which grasp onto individuals that have weak immune systems/are sick. Some infections that are at hospitals are Tuberculosis, VRE, VAP, C-Diff, UTI, and MRSA. Preventive measures to stop the spread of the infections is lacking tremendously in the work and aim to provide safety for all patient’s health. The work

of this policy is to reduce the risk of infection transmission both to and from

In their systematic review and meta-analysis about the burden of health-care-associated infection Allegranzi et al., (2011), concluded that health care associated infections (HCAIs) are the most frequent threats to patient safety worldwide. Therefore, Raveis et al., (2014) established that minimizing HCAIs is every health care worker responsibility.

Healthcare acquired/associated infections (HAIs) are caused by viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. These are infections we can get while we are receiving medical treatment in a healthcare facility. These infections can be serious, but are also very preventable. The most common HAIs are central line-associated bloodstream infections, nosocomial pneumonia, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections. The most frequent mode of transmission of hospital-acquired infections is by direct contact. These infections are very serious and can possibly lead to death, so prevention of these infections are extremely vital. This is why hand washing, wearing gowns, and practicing sterile techniques is so important

Hospital acquired infections are one of the most common complications of care in the hospital setting. Hospital acquired infections are infections that patients acquired during the stay in the hospital. These infections can cause an increase number of days the patients stay in the hospital. Hospital acquired infections makes the patients worse or even causes death. “In the USA alone, hospital acquired infections cause about 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths per year”(secondary).