Prevention of Infection in Home Health Care - Essay Example

Section/# Infectious Disease in Home Treatment Although the level and extent to which infection acquired at a hospital during treatment has been exhaustively discussed, measured, and analyzed within a litany of different medical research journals and studies, the level to which infectious disease exists within the home treatment realm is an issue that has received a far reduced level of focus. This of course is due to the fact that a far smaller percentage of individuals receive home care; however, due to the fact that it represents a growing percentage of the means of health care delivery, the question itself has significance within the context of nursing and medicine. As such, this brief analysis will seek to analyze the definition of infection, types of infection/most common types of infection that exist within home health care, the modes of these different infection transmissions, ways to impede or disrupt such transmissions, and self protective equipment and its application within the home health care setting. Though home health care accounts for but a small percentage of total health care delivery within the United States, it is nonetheless a growing sector of health care deserves discussion. According to a recent study, published in 2011, there has been a high level of growth within home care; however, it still pales in comparison to the total amount of money that is expended upon hospital care. As of 2011, home care represented just 3% of total health care expenditures as compared to over 31% of total expenditure taking place with relation to traditional hospitals. However, the fact remains that even though the figure is small; it is a growing sector and is expected to grow a further 2.5% in the coming decade. As such, it is necessary to understand some of the key nuances that exist within home care as a function of anticipating and treating these issues in a medically expeditious means. For purposes of this brief analysis, the author will consider infection to be, “the invasion of a host organism’s bodily tissues by disease-causing organisms, their multiplication, and the reaction of the host tissues to these organisms and the toxins they produce” (Krismer 2012). With such a broad and encompassing definition, it becomes clear that infection within home care encompasses a broad range of issues; some acting as a more primal threat to health than others. It is important to note that although many journal entries have warned concerning the level of latent disease and exposure that exists within hospital and primary care, the level to which pathogens exist within the environment of the home is far less uniform. Whereas hospitals most comply with federal standards of cleanliness and procedures for disposal of an array of disease causing agents, regularly schedule cleanings, and a host of other preventative mechanisms, home care is almost invariably not nearly so tightly regulated, or sanitary. For this very reason, the prevalence of disease and the severity with which it affects patients within the given context is almost invariably higher than a similarly community of patients within a traditional medical facility. However, the prevalence of infection within the home care theater is not reason in and of itself to strongly recommend against its implementation as a means of treatment. With regards to the types of infections and the most common infections that exhibit themselves within home care, there are a number which will herein be discussed. As one might expect, the very same infectious disease agents that exhibit themselves within the hospital care front are also exhibited within home care; albeit, to different extents and total percentage rates than in traditional hospital care. For instance, studies on home care have typically indicated that the most common types of infections are concentric upon urinary tract infections, followed by an array of different types of skin infections, with staphylococcus aureus, and enterococcus rounding out the least likely but still statistically significant forms of infection exhibited in home care (Patte et al 2009). The presentation of these particular infections is useful to note due to the face that approximately 6% of the home care patients that have been sampled in different studies have reported infection rates that reflect the aforementioned issues. As a means of understanding the overall prevalence and signs of these diseases, the health care professional can attempt to recognize key symptoms as well as make the steps necessary to ensure that aggravating factors do not contribute to a worsening of the patient’s condition. As with any form of infection, the means of transmission can almost always be attributed to contact in one shape or form with a contaminated object or organism. In this sense, the previously discussed information concerning the difficulty in seeking to sterilize the home environment as compared to that of the hospital is brought to mind. Although individuals would often like to think of their home as a superior place with respect to overall cleanliness and presence of disease as compared to that of a hospital, such is not the case. Moreover, the fact of the matter is that the different disease carrying agents that exist within the home provide for a veritable Petri dish of infectious agents which could negatively impact upon the health of the patient. Additionally, although the patient or caregivers of the patients may seek to invoke the logic that the “pathogens” that exist within the home are somehow harmless and the patient has been exposed to them their entire life, the fact of the matter is that the patient is I a highly weakened state and likely has never spent time at the home before at a time in which their immune system and overall health are at such a precarious state (Managan et al 2003). For this reason alone, it is necessary to place a high level of emphasis on seeking to both counteract and prepare for the eventualities that the home care avenue of patient care will necessarily present key challenges that the healthcare professional must differentiate from that of the traditional healthcare model; as exhibited by care within a primary care facility. Lastly, seeking to ameliorate the risk of transmission for the pathogens that have thus far been discussed within the arena of home care, the practitioner should seek to both employ the same practices that help to ensure that infectious pathogens are kept at a minimum within the hospitals as well as seeking to impart as much knowledge and best practices as possible to the shareholders within the home. In such a manner, activities that would otherwise spread germs and provide a level of threat to the patient in home care must be sought to be identified as well as reduced or discontinued entirely (Rinehart 2001). Rather than merely pointing out one or two areas in which the spread of key types of pathogens could be reduced, such an approach requires that the healthcare professional be mindful and highly attuned to the individual nature of the household’s that the patient is receiving home care within. In such a way, the healthcare professional will be able to offer insightful advice and guidance with respect to providing as sanitary and pathogen-free a zone of care as is possible. In much the same way, many of the same tools that are utilized within the hospital can also be utilized within the arena of home care. For instance, proper use of gloves, masks, and other pathogen reduction means can be utilized as a means of protecting the patient from pathogens born both within the house and from the outside environment into the home (Weber et al 2009). Although advanced hospital practices such as sterilization of equipment and tools cannot take place within the home, the ability to utilize the aforementioned means as a way to minimize the threat of disease is not insignificant. Although health care within the home environment exhibits a level of key concerns and dangers that traditional hospital care does not necessarily espouse, the considerations proposed within this brief analysis help the reader to understand some of the means by which the threats of infection can be lessened through the proper application of key knowledge. As a means of seeking to continually providing a higher level of care, while at the same time providing the end-consumer with the means by which they can take a level of self-determination within the realm of healthcare, it is doubtless that the utilization and application of home care will only continue to grow and expand within the coming years. As such, seeking to understand the key ways in which the medical community can work to sanitize the environment as well as educate the key healthcare shareholders in the process has a direct effect on the overall efficacy of the process. References Krismer, M. (2012). Definition of infection. Hip International, S2-S4. doi:10.5301/HIP.2012.9563 Manangan, L. P., Pearson, M. L., Tokars, J. I., Miller, E., & Jarvis, W. R. (2003). National Surveillance of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Home Care Settings -- Feasible or Not?. Journal Of Community Health Nursing, 20(4), 223-231. Patte, R., Drouvot, V., Quenon, J., Denic, L., Briand, V., & Patris, S. (2005). Prevalence of hospital-acquired infections in a home care setting. Journal Of Hospital Infection, 59(2), 148-151. Rhinehart, E. (2001). Infection Control in Home Care. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 7(2), 208. Weber, D., Brown, V., Huslage, K., Sickbert-Bennett, E., & Rutala, W. (2009). Device-related infections in home health care and hospice: infection rates, 1998-2008. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 30(10), 1022-1024. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/605641 Read More