Hospital Acquired Infections

Document Type:Article

Subject Area:Health Care

Document 1

Although this is a subject that is rarely discussed when it comes to health matters, studies show that the rate at which it occurs and the potential risk factors are quite severe. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the government spends close to $9. 8 billion dollars a year in health care costs and at least one in every 25 patients has a hospital-acquired the infection. This leads to close to 100,000 deaths every year (Kirkland et al. This essay takes a closer look at HAIs, some of the ways in which it is transmitted and measures that can be put in place to reduce the spread of these infections. This creates a crowding problem which means the amount of ventilation in areas such as waiting bays will not be sufficient to cater to the number of people in the room at times.

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This makes such areas a huge risk factor when it comes to the transmission of airborne diseases. Lastly, some infections may be passed from one person to another through the caregivers and healthcare practitioners while performing their duties at the facility. Although there are cases where this occurs as a result of negligence, there are times when the necessary precautions are taken yet the infection is still passed. An example of such a case is where the type of infection has antimicrobial resistance. The infections also reduce the chances of patients making it through surgical procedures in facilities with a history of high levels of HAI transmission (Kirkland et al. There are some infections that put such patients at risk and sometimes end up taking their lives.

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It also increases the number of days that the patients will need to stay at the facility which increases their total medical costs by alarming percentages. For this reason, patients may soon begin to lose confidence in the healthcare system, and others may not be able to keep up with medical costs as a result of the frequent occurrence of HAIs. PICO Table & Question P (Patient/Problem) Hospital acquired infections (HAI) I (Intervention/indication) Maintaining proper hygiene C (Comparison) Altering the structural design of the facility O (Outcome) Reduced infection Does improved hygiene by healthcare workers reduce the total amount of hospital-acquired infections within the facility? Some of the keywords used for this search include; healthcare, infection, hand washing, disinfectant and nosocomial infection.

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The results indicated that patients that were placed in ICU rooms with copper alloy surfaces had a lower incident rate of acquiring HAI. The conclusion of the evidence-based study was that copper alloy surfaces significantly reduced the rate of HAI compared to standard rooms without the copper alloy surfaces. Another evidence-based article is the study conducted by Walker et al. The study was about the effect of biofilms in taps across units in Northern Ireland. The study involved an assessment of thirty taps and eight flow straighteners for aerobic colony and P. They observed the percentage compliance rate of keeping hand hygiene with the rate of HAIs per 1000 patients. The results indicated that an increase in the hand hygiene compliance had a significant reduction of the hospital associated infections.

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The study is based on review of other texts and studies before making informed discussion on the issue healthcare facilities’ hygiene. The second non-research article by Al-Tawfiq, Abed, Al-Yami, & Birrer, (2013) also sought to find out the effect of hand hygiene compliance in hospitals. The study was based in a community hospital in Saudi Arabia with a 350-bed capacity. , Chen, M. L. , Chang, S. C. , & Chen, Y. A. , John, J. F. , Cantey, J. R. A. , Corace, K. , Hargadon, D. P. , Yu, D. F. The prevalence of nosocomial and community-acquired infections in a university hospital: an observational study. 2013 Descriptive research design due to the basis of inferences on the data collected from inpatients. Additionally, it qualifies as a descriptive research design since it only involved observing and describing the subject behaviour using charts and interviews.

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1047 The rate at which nosocomial infections are transmitted in a healthcare facility. Investigation of healthcare-acquired infections associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms in taps in neonatal units in Northern Ireland. Journal of Hospital Infection, 2014 Descriptive Research based on data collected from the infections acquired from the taps. There was non-interference with the subject in any way. 30 How HAIs can be contracted through infected surfaces I B There is a fairly high rate of infection through contact with surfaces harbouring microorganisms Recommendations The problem of hospital-acquired infections requires some interventions to bring the desired outcome. The interventions required include a change in the structural design of the hospital and an improvement of the levels of hygiene. Replacing hand soap with an alcohol-based disinfectant would cut this time into just three hours.

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It also has a superior level of efficacy when it comes to cleaning, which helps achieve the expected outcome (Shen et al. Another change that should be made would be to change the way in which people scrub up. It is not uncommon to find health care professionals who prefer not to remove their jewellery whenever they wash their hands. A study showed that practitioners who prefer to keep their jewellery on had higher microbial counts when compared to the ones who took them off. Fresh gloves should also be used for each procedure and a fresh pair should be used on every patient. There should never be a time when gloves are washed or sterilised for re-use (Kirkland et al.

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2012) Hospital staff would also need to wear protective coats and frequently clean examination equipment. White coats have mostly represented the medical profession for decades and are considered a tradition of sorts. However, these coats might increase the risk of passing infections. A percentage of all hospital-acquired infections occur as a result of the patient's own negligence but opens up the institution and its staff to blame. Each patient/ individual within a healthcare facility should ensure he/she follows the required safety and hygiene guidelines while at the institution (Kirkland et al. Patients should also ensure that the staff attending to them follow the guidelines and report any cases of misconduct to ensure that they are dealt with appropriately. An example of this is incidences where a healthcare practitioner attempts to re-use equipment like gloves, syringes and such.

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Medical and healthcare staffs are parties that bear the highest risk of contracting a hospital infection. Most importantly, without the system, it would be virtually impossible to come with concrete plans. Hospitals are the agents of infections. Healthcare facilities ought to be maintained to the standards set by the department of health. Those which have fallen short of the standards should be closed and renovated. It is imperative that healthcare personnel are held accountable for all the problems hospital acquired infections. In the short term, the facility's management would need to come up with ways to ensure that the recommended changes are implemented up to a certain degree based on their financial abilities. A requisition for additional funds can be made while the institution develops ways of generating additional income which would be a lasting solution.

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On the other hand, more would need to be done regarding the schedules of healthcare staff. Facilities that cater to the high numbers of patients each day will need additional employees to be able to function at optimal levels. Heavy workloads reduce the number of times practitioners are able to clean up between patients which in turn increase the risk of contracting infections in the office environment. , Abed, M. S. , Al-Yami, N. , & Birrer, R. B. A. , Lasky, R. A. , Ptak, J. A. , & Chaberny, I. F. The prevalence of nosocomial and community-acquired infections in a university hospital: an observational study. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 110(31-32), 533. Salgado, C. D. & Schmidt, M. G. Copper surfaces reduce the rate of healthcare-acquired infections in the intensive care unit.

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