The Importance Of Educating Hospital-Acquired Infections

Another problem that goes with the lack of hand-hygiene compliance is the many excuses that healthcare workers use to avoid washing their hands. Hass and Larson summarize (2009) some of the barriers to adherence that healthcare workers use, “a lack of access to hand-washing sinks, insufficient time, skin irritations, and lack of accountability” (Hass & Larson, 2009). Some solutions they explain to combat the barriers are to put more alcohol-based sanitizers where sinks are not around and placing them all over the patient care areas also reduces time and can be a suitable way for proper hand hygiene if the healthcare worker’s hand is not soiled. They also describe, “Involve staff in trying several alcohol-based hand sanitizers before deciding on one, and involve employee health services in creating a plan to manage hand-skin problems among staff. Alcohol-based sanitizers that have lotion in them can be helpful for staff who have very sensitive skin” (Hass & Larson, 2009).

1.1 Explain employees’ roles and responsibilities in relation to the prevention and control of infection

Choose a nursing problem from your current practice setting, and identify a possible solution to that problem.

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.

One of the main problems is hand hygiene and evidence suggests that healthcare staff including nurses do not perform this task as often as they should nor do they use the proper procedure. Even though it is

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) .

This makes it difficult to determine how much HH really affects the infection rates. Maintaining HH is very difficult. This study confirms the observation that institutional adoption of a guideline does not guarantee practice changes (Larson, 2007). The reduction in central line infections and ventilator acquired pneumonia occurred in both high and low compliance hospitals which indicates that there may be other variables affecting the results.|

Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) affect 1.7 million Americans each year with as many as 98,000 dying annually as a result of hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) (Kavanagh, 2007). In 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented policy to include non-payment for HAC in order to improve quality patient care and contain costs. This non-payment disincentive refuses to pay for complications of care that are considered preventable. Two other paradigms of this policy used to promote quality include pay-for-performance initiatives and public disclosure of HAC.

Generations of people have considered handwashing a measure of personal hygiene. In 1847, Dr. Semmelweis insisted that healthcare providers wash their hands with disinfecting agents between patients. This early hand hygiene practice resulted in a decrease in mortality rates among hospital patients (CDC, 2002). The CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee published the Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings in 2002 that is based on hand hygiene foundations developed in generation past. In 2014, this guideline is still available online and used as a reference

Hospital acquired infections (HAI) are inflecting a tremendous impact on healthcare safety and medical costs. The purpose of this qualitative analysis is to evaluate current research and evidence based practice on central line acquired blood stream infections (CLABSI) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Further, this paper will examine how the closed medication line system can help decrease of a CLABSI event. Neonates are a vulnerable population with a low immune suppression where an infection could simply mean life or death. This particular topic is crucial; with the continual rise in pre-term neonates, this topic is crucial to eliminate CLABSI 100% in the NICU environment

In today`s dynamic health care, in order to provide high quality and safe care to the patients, the nurses require increased levels of critical thinking, clinical judgment, and decision- making skills. Hence, the nurse educators should employ teaching strategies that promote critical thinking and clinical judgment skills (Hughes, 2008). When determining teaching strategies for student learning experiences the instructor must consider the content, curriculum, course, and unit objectives, feasibility of the technique, time available, strength of the class, room size, the required equipment availability, students` learning style, and the money cost of both the teacher and the student (Billings & Halstead, 2012). The use of simulation and case study are the two different teaching strategies chosen for the care of a patient with post-operative wound infection.

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

Hand hygiene (HH) has been the center of infection control efforts over the past two decades. This paper will compare and contrast implementation, adherence, and outcomes in HH related infection control policies and procedures between hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCFs). Hand hygiene (HH) describes a more inclusive practice than hand washing to cleanse hands. HH does not refer to surgical hand antisepsis performed in surgical settings. Hospital refers to acute care institutions offering inpatient care. LTCFs refer to institutions offering residential health care to individuals unable to manage independently in the community (Smith et al, 2008). Adherence is a

Caroline,      I thank you for your post re: hand washing. Hand washing is the  first competency I took during the course of nursing program. Back then, hospitals did not have the foam cleanser that are accessible to staff, patients and families so, we nurse basically verbalized the importance of hand washing and when to perform hand washing to patients and family, most of the time, the only response I get is a  smile back, not interested and at one time, a family member said to me, he does not have to use soap each time he wash his hands because it will make his hands dry. So, I taught about ways to get his attention by discussing ways to prevent urinary tract infection which was the reason why his Mother was in the hospital, proper hand washing,

Recent studies show that at any time, over 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from hospital-acquired infections (Public Health Ontario). In Canada alone, approximately 250 000 patients every year contract infectious micro-organisms from their healthcare providers (Nagel 18). At London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) we take pride in providing world class care in a safe, comfortable environment for patients. However, between 2008 and 2010 the LHSC still had between 20 and 30 per cent non-compliance to proper hand-washing protocol (Nagel 20). This data is very troubling considering it is following the launch of “Just Clean Your Hands” pilot project. As student nurses and volunteers of the LHSC team we are equally responsible to increase hand-washing compliance.