Healthcare Associated Infection

Hand hygiene practices are important thing to infection prevention and control practice. As health provider especially ED staff or front liner, to follow hand washing protocols is necessary in any situation. According Practice Standard (2009) four major elements to preventing practice; hand washing, protective barriers, care of equipment and health practice of nurse. Cite from Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland, scientists has found around 45% of infections can be prevented by washing hands regularly. MOH (2010) increasing in hand-washing compliance by

Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) affect over 1.7 million patients each year, causing almost 100,000 deaths annually in the United States alone (Johnson, 2010). According to the World Health Organization, HAIs are the most frequent adverse event in the healthcare industry. Fortunately, most of these infections can be prevented with one single intervention, proper hand hygiene (“The Evidence,” n.d.). Four out of five pathogens that cause illness are spread by direct contact. Proper hand hygiene eliminates these pathogens and helps to prevent cross-contamination and HAIs (Linton, 2015; “Hand Hygiene,” n.d.). Reduction of cross-contamination and HAIs improves patient outcomes, increases employee wellness, and lowers health care costs. Adherence to proper hand hygiene is the single most important safety measure in the health care setting. However, for many years compliance to proper hand hygiene in the healthcare industry has been dismally low. New and inventive measures must be implemented to increase compliance to proper hand hygiene and lower the rate of hospital-acquired infections.

Hospital acquired infections are a big problem today, but the use of disinfectants by the medical staff can help to avoid or limit such exposures to pathogens. The authors’ main purpose of this research article was to educate and teach the importance of hand hygiene and test the reason why certain virucidal hand-rubs result in poor compliance due to the poor tolerability of the products. The overall goal with the study would to show the reason certain hand rubs are not being used and how to improve their formula to increase compliance. The article written by the author was very well written with a thorough abstract. The study was very easy to follow and read, due to the well thought out structure of the article. The authors introduction starts out by stating the approximate amount of hospital acquired infections in the European Union and why hand sanitizers play an important role to avoid such infections. The introductions statement showed the importance of the topic. Although some of the results were complicated and confusing, the discussion laid out the results in layman

| UNIT 4222- 264 THE PRINCIPLES OF INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL | | | |

Keeping our hands clean is one of the most effcient and important steps we can do as humans to avoid getting sick or spreading germs to other people. Unwashed hands spread many diseases such as the flue, E. coli, and salmonella. Unfortunately, hand hygiene is still one of today’s most leading causes of infection in health care facilities. The risk of clinicians, patients, and visitors not complying with hand hygiene protocols creates a practice problem for nurses and their patient care. The cause of health care infections, also known as, health care-associated infections (HAIs) are increasing along with the rise of the inability to control or treat infections that are multi-drug resistant. Lack of proper hand hygiene is a major problem in clinical settings sourcing from critical care divisions where the most contaminations are prevalent. This paper will discuss how hand hygiene affects the nursing process and solutions of how to better prevent HAIs within the nursing scope of practice.

This study was intended to prove that hand hygiene practiced according to the CDC guidelines will decrease the incidence of hospital acquired infections. This could not really be proved in this study since the hospitals were not able to maintain improvement in hand hygiene. Health care workers were familiar with guidelines but significant practice changes were not maintained. Some of the infection rates did improve during this time but the correlation with hand hygiene is not consistent. There were other practice changes occurring during this same time and those changes may be responsible for the decreased infection rates.

To help the prevention of infection spreading is by knowing the method of washing your hand because we carry most bacteria sue to the open air that we come in contact with. For example we use are hands to shake hands with someone holding or touching objects. When you are performing any form of hand hygiene you will need to make sure that you have washed your hand with anti-bacterial liquid soap; this is to help prevent any bacteria which we already have on our hands. In all health and social care settings an automatic liquid dispenser should be placed so that when washing hands any individual doesn’t touch or need to even sneeze any part of the liquid

CDCs clean hands count campaign aim to improve healthcare provide adherence to hand hygiene recommendations, address, myths and misperceptions about hand hygiene and empower patients to play a role in their care by asking or reminding healthcare providers to clean their hands and the most germs that cause serious infections in healthcare are spread by people’s action, every patient is at risk of getting an infection while they are being treated for something else, hand hygiene is a great way to prevent infections and healthcare providers clean their hands less than half of the time they should, good hand washing is the first line of defense against the spread of many illness.

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).

A dozen of measures and guidelines are published in sight of putting a limit to HCAIs but known of them adopted as a separate course of the curricula. Participation in the therapeutic procedural intervention was found to significantly increase knowledge about infection control among medical students. Accordingly, the development similar customized intervention for the students and evaluation of their performance was recommended (13) Standard precautions (SPs) are evidence based clinical work published by the Centre of Disease Control (CDC) in 1996 and updated in 2007. It prevents transmission of infectious agents in healthcare settings.(14)

The participating States’ have public health department that were created by mandate to supervise the prevention, surveillance and reporting of healthcare-acquired infections. According to the article “National Action Plan to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections: Road Map to Elimination.” There is a Federal Steering Committee for the Prevention of Health Care-Associated Infections. Members include clinicians, scientists, and public health leaders who are high-ranking officials from the HHS, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. These different federal agencies come together to discuss new approach to HAI prevention. Patients also take part in HAI prevention meetings (Office of Disease

Healthcare associated infections have an impact on patients - how? Can be prevented greatly with compliance to hand hygiene protocols (REF).

A hospital is a place where patients go to get medical or surgical treatment and most patients that are admitted into hospitals or get checked up, usually already have an infection or illness of some sort. Therefore, they are seen by a professional to treat or get rid of it. Doctors may treat the patient’s initial illness, however, the patient has a chance of leaving the hospital with a different infection. Healthcare-associated infections are infections that are spread around hospitals. According to ODPHP, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 1 out of every 25 hospitalized patients are affected by a healthcare-associated infection (HAI). The old term for healthcare-associated infections was “nosocomial infections,” simply

are the principal route by which cross-infection occurs and that hand hygiene is the single

* Hand washing is the most important method of preventing the spread of infection by contact (Ayliffe et al 1999). The Nottingham University Trust Policy on Hand Hygiene (2009) states that there are three types of hand hygiene, the first is ‘routine hand hygiene’ which involves the use of soap and water for 15 – 20 seconds or the application of alcohol hand rub until the hand are dry. The second is ‘hand disinfection’ which should be used prior to an aseptic procedure by washing with soap and water and applying alcohol hand rub afterwards. The third is ‘surgical hand washing’ which is the application of a microbial agent to the hands and wrists for two minutes. In addition to which a sterile, disposable brush may be used for the first surgical hand wash of the day although continued use will encourage colonisation of microbes. The third example is the most appropriate to any O.D.P undertaking the surgical role as it is the best way for the surgical team to eliminate transient flora and reduce resident skin flora (World Health Organization 2010). The first and second are important to any O.D.P undertaking any other role within the Operating Department as this is the best way to reduce the transient microbial flora without necessarily affecting the resident skin flora