Essay On Healthcare Acquired Infection

Healthcare acquired infections (HAI) not only contribute to exorbitant amounts of financial burden on the healthcare system but also attribute to staggering numbers of

Evidence based practice plays a very large role in the control of Infection management. Infections within the healthcare workplace are a national problem and concern, and can often causes patients health to deteriorate. This can prolong an unexpected stay in hospital for patients, costing the NHS more on resources (Comptroller and Medical General, 2000). This means it is vital for healthcare workers to manage and control infections.

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 is an ever-growing, booming industry and as medical technology advances so should our standards of care. Once known as hospital acquired “nosocomial” infections, Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) are still afflicting the very patients we are to be treating. These patients could be our loved ones, friends, and family so to say that, “1 in 25 hospital patients have at least one HAI in a U.S. acute care hospital” (CDC, 2015), is still one too many.

(Douglas Scott II, R. March 2009. The Direct Medical Costs of Healthcare-Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals and the Benefits of Prevention. Date Retrieved: December 30, 2015, http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/pdfs/hai/Scott_CostPaper.pdf)

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).

Infection control is very important in the health care profession. Health care professionals, who do not practice proper infection control, allow themselves to become susceptible to a number of infections. Among the most dreaded of these infections are: hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Another infection which has more recently increased in prevalence is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These infections are all treated differently. Each infection has its own symptoms, classifications, and incubation periods. These infections are transmitted in very similar fashions, but they do not all target the same population.

Infection control within a healthcare facility is the prevention of the spread of many microorganisms from patient to patient, patient to a member of staff and also from the staff member to the patient that are in there care. The World Health Organisation have defined healthcare associated infections as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other healthcare facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. Every healthcare facility from hospitals to general practitioners office should have a designated member of staff or a team of people who ensure that the infection control procedures are abided by and adhered to at all times in order to protect both staff and patients. More than 300,000 people each year are affected by a healthcare associated infection and the cost of treatment for these patients is over £3,000 and there is also the cost of treatment after discharge.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines infectious diseases as “diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi that can be spread, directly or indirectly from one person to another” (World Health Organization [WHO], n.d.). Infectious diseases have been plaguing humanity since the beginning of time. One can find stories of infectious diseases outbreaks in various history and/or science textbooks, different disease-based websites, and even the Bible. These types of diseases are treatable through the use of antibiotics and other effective medications. But what’s interesting is that many of the infectious diseases are preventable. Ways to prevent infecting oneself or others can be as simple as adjusting personal hygiene habits, or getting vaccinated. Vaccinations are highly effective in preventing certain diseases. Although there’s not a 100% guarantee of eradicating the diseases altogether, vaccinations can help reduce, or sometimes eliminate, the exposure or transmission of them.

For thousands of years, infectious diseases have had a strong influence over human populations by challenging the immune system to continuously adapt to new virulent strains. With the advantage of reproducing more rapidly than the human immune response, microorganisms that cause even minor infections can prove to be fatal (Parham, 2015). Over time, outbreaks such as ‘The Great Plague’ have threatened to bring an end to society. Without the ability to contain these diseases geographically and provide means of prevention, they run the risk of wiping out the human race completely. When considering economic costs, the vast numbers of individuals who fall ill due to an epidemic can increase healthcare costs as well as decrease labour markets. Indirect costs as a result of public actions, such as fleeing the area of outbreak, can contribute to economic damage (Barker & Bacon, 2015); not to mentioned the increased likelihood of transferring the disease from one area to another. Two infectious diseases that are of continuous interest today, HIV/AIDS and Ebola, will be contrasted in terms of their outcomes and possible alternatives to tackling similar diseases in the future. Both an economic and social lens will be utilized in order to provide an analysis that covers all implications of the disease.

Project initiation is the first stage of a project. The idea of the project is established and examined for effectiveness, feasibility, and value that it will bring to business, residents and the economy of Pinellas County. During this stage, decisions are made regarding who will be the project manager to carry out the project, how the project team will be formed, which departments or municipalities will facilitate the project, and whether the project has adequate support among officials and communities involved.

The nature and scope of a project is determined at the initiation stage. This involves analyzing the business needs, developing goals, budgets, tasks, deliverables, and the stakeholder analysis. The project planning stage determines the planning team, develops the scope, and identifies work breakdown structure and activities that will be needed to complete deliverables. The planning stage also estimates time and cost activities, develop schedule and risk plan, and gain formal approval for work to begin. The executing stage involves all processes used to meet the project requirement and involves managing people and resources. The process that entails the identification of potential problems and

Healthcare acquired infections (HAI) are a significant public health threat, impacting one out of every twenty-five hospital patients ((CDC HAI)), and have a significant financial impact on through increased costs of care and treatment, and risk to reimbursement through value based purchasing. Healthcare organizations are increasingly focused on reduction and elimination of infection, and infection preventionists (IPs) are often challenged by their organizational leadership to with “fix the HAI problem.”

With the rate that HIV/AIDS is spreading it is a must that everyone be educated about this killer. There are programs that are made to inform others about this disease. Around 2.5 million people became infected with HIV in 2011. Sub-Saharan Africa has been hardest hit by the epidemic; in 2011 over two-thirds of AIDS deaths were in this region (CDC, 2008). There are also clinics that will check you out to make sure that you are clear and free from this disease. Also there are people that speak

This is achieved by using Six Sigma sub-methodologies: DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) and DMADV (define, measure, analyze, design, verify). DMAIC addresses existing processes that are not up to par and require improvement. DMADV deals with creating new processes or products that meet Six Sigma standards.