Healthcare Associated Infection Paper

1. Explain the employee’s roles and responsibilities in relation to the prevention and control of infection.

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

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

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

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) .

Every year a familiar scene plays out in clinic waiting rooms, chairs filled with miserable patients waiting to see their physician with complaints of a never ending cough and a constant nasal drip. More than likely, these patients will receive a prescription for antibiotics, but should they? Most acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs), do not require an antibiotic, the symptoms will resolve themselves over time without antibiotic treatment. Healthcare experts and scientists have warned the public about the dangers of overusing antibiotics, and there are thousands of studies to support that fact, but no one is listening. Patients are convinced they need to have antibiotic treatment, and somehow their time is wasted if they leave empty

This plan involves preventing future HAIs from happening to prevent further costs. HAIs have been estimated to cost twenty-eight to forty-five billion in excess healthcare costs (Zimlichman et al., 2013). Effective evidence based practice for infection control must be in place and all employees must comply. Healthcare administrators should use evidence based practice to implement these infection controls and make sure there are checks and balances to ensure every employee is complying with the guidelines. In addition, the healthcare administrator must make sure that the organization receives every dollar that their healthcare organization should receive from the insurance company to prevent any more loss financially. To get payment from The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), hospitals are required to report data about some infections to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) ("Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) data", 2016). In addition, CMS has provided incentives for hospital that beat averages of HAIs at healthcare organizations. The healthcare administrator must make sure they report to the CDC’s NHSN and prevent future HAIs. Also, the administrator should thoroughly and routinely check to make sure the insurance company properly reimburses the right amount to the healthcare organization. If the healthcare administrator implements procedures to provided infection control based on evidence based practice and monitors the reimbursement process properly following correct procedures, the administrator can help the healthcare organization reduce future costs for

Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAI) have become popular in hospitals across the nation. These infections not only aggravate a patient’s condition, but also extend the amount of time spent in the hospital. Equally important is the resistance that these microbes are developing against antibiotics making them more difficult to treat. Hand hygiene has been known to be the single most important factor in preventing the spread of HAI’s among hospitalized patients (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). Although hand washing is a simple task, healthcare providers still fail to comply with this requirement leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality rates (Chau, Thompson, Twinn, Lee, & Pang, 2011). Additionally, the increase

One of the most vulnerable populations within the healthcare setting include pediatrics. Due to undeveloped immune systems as well as underdeveloped body systems, the pediatric population deals with unique challenges in comparison with, perhaps, the adult population. As pediatrics have an increased risk for infection, one important safety concern in the hospital setting includes central line associated infections. A central line-associated bloodstream infection must be confirmed by a laboratory as a primary infection in which the catheter was in place for greater than 2 days and the line was also secured on the day of or the day before the event (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). When pediatric patient’s experience central

As a visionary researcher, the researcher viewed the discrepancy between the central-line-bundle guidelines and their actual implementation as a cause of the current numbers of central-line bloodstream infections (CLABSI). CLABSIs affect approximately thirty thousand and one hundred patients in intensive care units (ICUs) annually and cost thousands of dollars per episode (Health Research & Educational Trust, 2017). But most of the patients in ICUs need a central line which is a tube placed in a large vein to give medications or fluids. The researcher reviewed many qualitative and quantitative studies to examine the impact of adherence to central-line-bundles on the number of CLABSIs among adult patients in ICU. All studies presented central-line

| |treatment and care to reduce the risk of passing on the infection to other people. |

At the hospital where I currently work at Paoli Memorial Hospital their infection control programs first began in the 1950s, where the primary focus of these programs was to prevent their hospital from any outbreaks. According to the history from my job, in 1970, the infection control underwent a growth spurt. By 1970, all United States hospitals were required to have infection control program. By 1976, Paoli hospitals had their version of what they wanted their infection control program to consist of; they included trained nurses to perform active surveillance. In 1982, the Paoli Hospital Infections Control Branch was formed, and the Association for Practitioners

It is evident that the awareness of HAIs among healthcare professionals is there, however, infection control measures and practices are not up to the mark. The factors discussed above need to be considered by the administrators of the hospital and policy makers for a better and effective management of HAIs in the public sector. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HAIs are one of the top ten causes of death.1 Therefore, it is important to form and renew guidelines and policies of infection control practices in a healthcare

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.

Report for priority focus area under infection control standard, for Nightingale Community Hospital. Our hospital is 13 months away from its anticipated next Joint Commission visit (JAHCO).