Unit 21 the Principles of Infection Prevention and Control

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

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

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

A poorly prepared plan will likely lead to a disorganized evacuation or emergency response, resulting in confusion, injury and property damage.

More than one million of Healthcare associated infections happen across healthcare settings every year, or 1 in 20 people admitted to any healthcare setting (Healthy people 2020, 2013). HAIs are the most common complication seen in hospitalized patients. HAIs increase morbidity, mortality, healthcare costs, and length of stay even after adjustment for the main underlying illness. According to the Center for Diseases Control (CDC, April 2013) 5 to 10% of patients admitted to acute-care hospitals, or long-term care facilities approximately 2 million patients per year in the United States acquire a nosocomial infection. At least 90,000 deaths per year are a result of HAIs, making it the fifth leading cause of death in acute-care hospitals. These

Hospital acquired infection is also known as nosocomial infections, which can be caused by viruses, bacteria or fungal pathogen. It is an infection that a patient can acquire while they are in hospital or another health care facility for a reason other than the infection. So most of the time, when a patient get nosocomial infection, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) does not cover that treatment, and it will be the hospital charge, because the infection is caused by a poor conditions at the hospital or the health care facility, or perhaps because hospital staff did not following proper procedures. One infection that a patient can develop in hospital or health care facility is kin ulcer, which is also known as skin pressure injury.

There are many kinds of healthcare associated infections such as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Clostridium difficile (C difficile), pneumonia, Catheter associated Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), surgical site infection, and Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI).

Describe the role of CDC and the WHO in identifying healthcare associated infections, how if any are these

In this article, the National Patient Safety Goal 07.01.01 addresses the reduction of hospital-acquired infections (Joint Commission, 2008). The Joint Commission (2008), the World Health Organization (WHO, 2009), the CDC (2006), and the Society for Healthcare

1. Identify the hazards in the case, which can be environmental, situational, human or ergonomic.

All care workers have a responsibility to follow the infection prevention and control guidance of the organisation they work for and to work in such a way that the infection risk to service users, themselves and others is minimised.

The chain of infection exhibits a key importance in the prevention of unnecessary disease throughout a health-care facility to prevent nosocomial infections. Infectious disease results from a

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are considered to be the most frequent adverse event in the healthcare delivery and compromised the patient's safety. A recent CDC study found that on any given day, approximately 1 in 25 hospital patients has an HAI. Moreover, about 75,000 patients with an HAI died while in the hospital (Predictive Infection Control Prevention/Solution | Jvion. n.d.). The risk management, and infection-control programs provide

Prepare an assignment to be delivered at the above conferences which explain appropriate methods of prevention/ control form a made communicable and a named non-communicable disease. An understanding of methods that can be used for preventing and controlling disease is needed.

Establish standard work practices for the recognition, evaluation and control of environmental stresses or occupational health hazards arising from the workplace.