Types Of Healthcare-Associated Infection

Clostridium Difficile (C-Diff) is considered one of the most common infections a patient can acquire within their hospital stay. It is estimated that C-Diff is responsible for 337,000 infections and 14,000 deaths a year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Working in the emergency department (ED), I have witness first hand how debilitating this gastrointestinal infection can be. Patients are admitted to the ED for having severe watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever. Elderly patients are at increase risk for sepsis and dehydration related to recurrent infections. Appropriate management and education of C-Diff is optimal for patient survival and decrease contamination across lifespan.

Burke J.P. (2003). Infection control- a problem for patient safety. New England Journal Medicine, 348(7):651-656.

Clostridium difficile involves a gram-positive spore-forming bacterium, which is a normal element of the colon flora in people. The Clostridium difficile can cause antibiotic-associated diarrhea when the competing bacteria in the gut flora are all killed by antibiotic treatment. The Clostridium difficile infection is one of the serious healthcare-related infection and also a rising health care problem. In the early 1970s, the Clostridium difficile has been known to have the ability to cause pseudomembranous colitis. As stated, the infection is the most cause of nosocomial infectious diarrhea (Aktories & Wilkins, 2000). Individuals that are colonized with clostridium difficile serve as the reservoir for infection and this is by contaminating the environment with spores of such bacteria. This will lead to the spread of the organism on the health care worker’s hands or even through the use of medical equipment. In this paper, we are going to focus on the effective prevention strategies for clostridium difficile. What are the effective prevention strategies for clostridium difficile?

Checking in to the hospital comes with a heavy price tag, and sometimes you get more than what you bargained for. As highly trained doctors, nurses, and staff make their way through the hospital, they carry with them microbial agents of disease. Although regarded as centers for treatment and prevention, hospitals are also known to harbor nosocomial, healthcare-associated, bacterial infections. These infections can be a result of overused or inappropriately used antibiotics and the breaching of infection containment policies by patients and staff. Though health-care-associated infections have been decreasing, one infection inciting nosocomial bacterial, Clostridium difficile has been rampant. It is important that inefficiencies in health-care be met with stringent efforts for prevention as they may lead to distressing financial, emotional, and medical repercussions.

infections. There are many reasons for their vulnerability including frailty, pre-existing conditions, and weakened immune systems. They may not be able to fully communicate with healthcare workers to report changes in health or may be too embarrassed by their decline in health to report the changes. Because of this, it is very important for residential care workers to ensure that infection control and prevention measures are implemented. Infections can cause many unwanted side effects in patients such as pain, discomfort, disorientation, and even in severe cases death. Not all infections can be passed from person to person. However, in residential care settings, many infections that can be passed from person to

Clostridium difficile infection is a suprainfection cause by prolong use of antibiotics. Board spectrum antibiotic such as Penicillins, clindamycin, and cephalosporins are the antimicrobial drugs most commonly associated with C difficile colitis. According to Owens, in his research, C. difficile is primarily acquired in hospitals. Spread by spores, it can colonize a patient’s gut after helpful gut bacteria are killed by antibiotics. Its toxins can cause severe diarrhea and colitis, and it can be fatal (Owens 2013). On the other hand Kim in his research agreed clostridium difficile infection has been considered a hospital-acquired infection. However, a recent population-based study found 41% of CDIs were actually community acquired. It is becoming apparent that community acquired CDI affects populations previously thought to be at low risk; younger patients and patients who had no exposure to antibiotics in the 12 weeks before the infection. Thus, it is necessary to advocate and teach patient about

Clostridium difficile is a gram-positive spore-forming bacteria; first isolated and published in 1935 by Hall and O’Toole. This was accomplished from the stool of a healthy infant. However, it was not until 1978 that C. difficile was identified as being associated with many cases of antibiotic-resistant diarrhea.1 C. difficile has since become one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections in the United States. A study conducted in 2015 has estimated that C. difficile infection has an incident of 453,000 (95% confidence interval) in the United States.2 This has placed a tremendous burden on the US healthcare system. According to data from 2008, C. difficile infections have accumulated an excess cost of $4.8 billion to the US healthcare system.3

Clostridium difficile, or C. difficile for short, are words that every healthcare worker hates to hear that their patient has, or may potentially have. This spore forming bacterium has significant healthcare-associated infection potential. An especially virulent strain has affected health care facilities throughout the U.S. and North America in the past few years. What C. difficile is, its symptoms, how it is transmitted, and the prevention transmission are important issues to all healthcare workers. These questions and issues will be covered in this paper.

In 2011, there was an estimated 450,000 cases of Clostridium difficile infections in the United States. Of these cases, 83,000 were first occurrence cases and 29,300 cases resulted in death. The main method of transmission of C- diff is referred to as a nosocomial infection, which are infections that are acquired while admitted to a healthcare facility, such as a hospital or skilled nursing facility. There are several risk factors that make a patient susceptible to a CDI, however, three risks factors are particularly important. These factors are that a patient underwent a recent course of antibiotics, the patient was recently hospitalized, and the that the patient is over the age of sixty- five. An elderly person is more at risk because their immune system may be less competent, and they are at a higher risk of experiencing a health

In the United States, Clostridim difficile has cost the healthcare system possible more than 1 billion dollars annually, and in developing countries it is the leading cause of illness that occurred in hospitals; with cases that have C. difficile link to it is estimated to cause over 3600 dollars in health care fees (Heinlen and Ballard, 2010). According to data that was reported by Center for Disease Control and Prevention, C. difficile start from a low of 31 cases out of 100,000 people per yer in 1996 to an increase in 2003 with 61cases out of 100,000 people per year (Heinlen and Ballard, 2010). In the United States alone, it have been estimated that 500,000 cases have occurred per year (Heinlen and Ballard, 2010). C. difficile infections (CDI) have also increased by 25% with an estimate of 15,000- 20,000 people die per year in

I chose these answers because Clostridium difficile because it is a contact infection and it can spread without being treated. The correct answers are “Client in single-room (private) Isolation”, and “Nurse wearing disposable gown”. The rationale is that alcohol-based sanitizers does not kill C. difficile spores and C. difficile requires contact precautions, so the patient needs to be in an isolated room or with others who have C. difficile. The disposable and gloves must be discarded before leaving to room, so the nurse won’t spread the C.

Clostridium difficile is a highly contagious infection of the colon that's hard to contain and occurs in many health care facilities. With the proper interventions, it can be prevented and contained. The purpose of this paper is to discuss an article about C. diff and give suggestions on how to avoid an outbreak at a health care facility.

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

Clostridium difficile or more commonly called C. difficile or C. diff is a spore producing rod shaped bacterium that can cause infections of which result in a broad spectrum of disease ranging from mild diarrhea and fever to pseudomembranous colitis and life threating inflammation of the colon. C. difficile commonly located in the feces of humans and is spread though spores. Over the last 20 years the prevalence of healthcare-associated C. difficile infection (CDI) has increased to an estimated prevalence of colonization as high as 50% in hospitalized patients. (Cohen et al., 2010) This rise in prevalence is associated with new epidemic strains of C. diff that, are causing in an increase of incidence and disease severity. C. difficile infections are most commonly associated with healthcare facilities like hospitals and long-term care facilities and are also the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in the healthcare setting. With the disease severity on the rise people who are most at risk are generally the ones already in the hospital and have lower immune response. C. difficile’s main rout of transmission is through direct or indirect contact with spores on a contaminated surface. After contact whether a person develops C. difficile or not, is directly connected with a person’s immune response. If the disease is contracted there are a variety of treatments available. Prevention before contraction is the main source of struggle with C. difficile especially in the

As consequence of the problem of c-diff spreading fast and not education has being provided to pt’s, family members, visitors, and all the staff that has in one way or other caring for the patient either directly or indirectly, and not following the right steps and proper protocol to identify the bacteria, can be very costly to the hospital in which millions of dollars will have to be spend to the resolve the problem and for the education of the personal who works in the hospital.