Prevention and Control of Hospital-Acquired Infections - Essay Example

Such infections can also grow after the patient leaves the hospital, provided the patient spends time in the incubation period at the time of discharge. Hygiene plays a crucial role in defeating HAIs and hand washing is the most effective tool in preventing them. According to a study, a hospital audit revealed only 27% compliance with correct handwashing guidelines among nurses and 29% among physicians. If this situation can be improved there can be significant success in preventing HAIs. Analysis of the nurse’s role in relation to this problem The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care should work in conjunction with Local Health Integration Networks and make handwashing and hygiene compliance a part of its public reporting requirements. . It is also recommended that Ministries educational materials should be developed specifically for nurses by keeping in mind their problems and priorities.

Preventing Hospital-Acquired Infections By Lorri Downs Audience: Common People Summary Prevention of Hospital Acquired Infections or HAIs still remains one of the most crucial issues in healthcare facilities. It is statistically proven that almost every health care facility is aware of the fact 40% of all HAIs are urinary tract infections. The problem itself has been discussed frequently but its evidence-based solutions are rarely discussed. The CMS reimbursement changes did highlight the issue.

Health care professionals dealt with the mandate that they either eliminate certain HAIs or lose Medicare reimbursement dollars. Hand hygiene is the most effective method for preventing HAI however, there still isn’t 100% compliance worldwide. On average, the compliance is only around 40%. The biggest constraint that doctors and nurses reportedly face is time and for this reason, they don’t perform correct antisepsis. The constraint is evident when nurses use soap and water to clean their hands.

Time can be considerably reduced by using alcohol-based hand washing solutions. A concentration of 80 percent ethyl alcohol or 75% isopropanol is highly effective in hygiene and saves a lot of time compared with soap and water. On the other hand, the sanitization solution provided the other contribution in regards to HAI is CAUTI infection. According to the study, in 30% to 50% of the patients that were inserted with a catheter tube, it was found that the catheter infection was not medically indicated.

Hence caregivers should ask twice before recommending a catheter and more importantly the time for its removal.    

The recommendations given in the article are plain and simple, yet highly effective. Nurses have been the target of the debate quite frequently regarding hygiene and HAIs. It is a common observation that hand washing in the conventional sense takes a lot of time for the nurses. It is sometimes not even possible for nurses to comply 100% with the hand washing and hygiene guidelines even if they want to. Sometimes there are too many patients and nurses are under so much pressure to deliver on time. The recommendation given is to use an alcohol-based solution for handwashing. These solutions should be provided all over the globe, especially in third world countries where hospitals are overloaded with patients. Nurses simply don’t have enough time to give due attention to each patient in these parts of the world. Similarly, if physicians will have to pass through certain tight measures before recommending catheter insertion it will also reduce the risk of catching an HAI considerably.