Improper Infection Control Paper

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

The standard precautions are implemented at all times to decrease the risk of transmitting infectious agents. Assuming that all patients could carry an infection, this minimises the potential spread of HAI’s. These standard precautions include routine hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment, safe handling and disposure of sharps and routine environmental cleaning.4,5 In this situation, where blood is present, this is considered a biohazard. Hand hygiene must be performed before touching the patient, before and after any procedures or exposure to bodily substances and after touching the patient or any of the patient’s surroundings. The use of Personal protective equipment should be used when attending to the patient. This includes protective eye wear, a surgical mask and an apron for protection from any splashes or sprays of blood generated by the patient. Gloves should also be worn for single use only when coming in contact with open skin and bodily fluids. To minimise the spread of blood, the bystander with visibly soiled hands should also be advised to thoroughly clean them with soap and

Elimination of HAI’s are a top priority for many healthcare related organizations and as such, the reduction of certain types of HAIs have been achieved. On the national level, the HAI Progress Report states that there has been, “Au 46 percent decrease in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and a 19 percent decrease in select surgical site infections (SSIs) between 2008 and 2013” as well as “an 8 percent decrease in hospital-onset MRSA bacteremia and a 10 percent decrease in hospital-onset C. difficile infections between 2011 and 2013” (CDC, 2015).

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) .

Patients have varying susceptibility to develop an infection after exposure to a pathogenic organism. Some people have innate protective mechanisms and will never develop symptomatic disease and others exposed to the same microorganism may establish a commensal relationship and retain the organisms as an asymptomatic carrier (colonization) or develop an active disease process. Intrinsic risk factors predispose patients to HAIs. The higher likelihood of infection is reflected in vulnerable patients who are immunocompromised, underlying diseases, severity of illness, immunosuppressive medications, or medical/surgical treatments (Bauman, 2011). Extrinsic risk factors include surgical or other invasive procedures, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions (e.g., invasive devices, implanted foreign bodies, organ transplantations, immunosuppressive medications), and personnel exposures. In addition to providing a portal of entry for microbial colonization or infection, they also facilitate transfer of pathogens from one part of the patient’s body to another, from health care worker to patient, or from patient to health care

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), specifically those involving multi-drug resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality, as well as higher cost of healthcare and longer length of hospital stays for patients. Each year, millions of people acquire infections while receiving care, treatment, and services in hospitals and other health care organizations.

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

Amidst the futile clamor and commotion of national healthcare reform legislation debated on the national political stage, everyone in the medical industry from patients to doctors alike are searching for ways to effectively and efficiently trim the cost of delivering quality healthcare. While the inexcusable waste and graft of the insurance industry, runaway medical malpractice litigation and the importance of lifelong preventative care are all issues that have been thrust to the forefront of the political discourse, a tremendous leak in the system has escaped notice and continues to drain resources from both hospitals and those they treat. The threat of additional infections afflicting a patient who requires treatment for an original condition is prevalent throughout American hospitals, and according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)" or "infections that patients acquire while receiving treatment for medical or surgical conditions "¦ occur in all settings of care, including hospital acute care units and same day surgical centers, ambulatory outpatient care clinics, and long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes and rehabilitation centers" (HHS Action Plan, 2011). Whether one attempts to gauge the overall price of healthcare-associated infections in terms of the financial expenditure, the human suffering or the diversion of valuable resources they impose on the healthcare system, it is quite clear that these

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

As the name implies, healthcare-associated infections are usually contracted while obtaining health-related care. They occur in a variety of settings, including hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, dialysis centers, outpatient care centers, long-term care facilities, and the general population (USDHHS ODPHP, 2016, June 3). Of the previous listed settings, the highest risk of contracting an HAI occurs in acute care hospitals (“HAI Data and Statistics,” 2016). Information from the article on “HAI Data and Statistics” (2016) report that there were over 721,000 cases of healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals, in the US, in 2011 (see Appendix A for HAI occurrence

Healthcare associated infections (HAI’S) appear in hospitals and other healthcare facilities around the world. Many infections are within the (HAI’S), but the main infections are: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection, Surgical site infection, and Ventilator-associated pneumonia. (www.CDC.gov). In healthcare many infections are in effective because the infections are constantly coming through. In non-healthcare facilities infections are still effective because the infections are throughout our community.

CAUTI is the most frequent type of HAI, and represents as much as 80% of HAIs in hospitals.(The Joint Commission, 2011) This high occurrence of infection in hospitals creates a high concern in patient centered care. The hospital can only do so much, what 's important is exactly how the nurse conducts herself. Starting

Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) which is also known as Nosocomial infection is defined as infection due to hospital care/ hospital environment and or cross infection from other patient, which the patient was not carrying before getting admitted to the hospital. Infection that the patient acquires after 48 hours of the admission in the hospital from its environment, within 3 days of hospital discharge or within 30 days of post-surgery discharge is HAIs. Patient who are more susceptible to HAIs are immunocompromised patient, patient admitted to ICU, post-surgical patient, infant and elderly population to name a few. Predominantly occurring HAIs are lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), urinary tract infection(UTI), surgical site infection

Controlling spread of infection is the key for the individual or the health care provider and washing hands is the first step. Hand washing is the most single most important strategy for preventing infection transmission. HAIs are the most common complication of hospital care. However, recent studies suggest that implementing existing prevention practices can lead to up to a 70 percent reduction in certain HAIs. The financial benefit of using these prevention practices is estimated to be $25.0 billion to $31.5 billion in medical cost savings (Healthypeople.gov 2020).

A study completed by Karen McGoldrick had a surprising innovation to isolation precautions-take patients out of them. While this seems to be counterproductive, her findings were astounding. Because isolation patients have less interaction with their health care team, they are at risk for other conditions, such as falls, pressure ulcers, and feelings of isolation which can be detrimental to their mental health (McGoldrick, 2017). McGoldrick proposed to use strict universal precautions-such as frequent hand hygiene and gloving instead of placing patients in contact precautions (gown, gloves, special equipment). This research was conducted at a hospital with a 90% compliance rate of hand washing with patients in isolation for MRSA, VRE and Stenotrophomonas who did not have “active infections” (McGoldrick, 2017).