Problem Intervention Outcome in Hospital Sphere - Essay Example

Introduction Hospital acquired infection or HAI is a kind of infection whose development is actually favored by the environment prevailing within the hospital. It can either be acquired by the patients as well as the hospital staff too if proper care is not undertaken by the hospital. The overall incidence of this HAI can be increased due to the reduced level of resistance in patients. Various empirical studies have suggested that almost 99,000 deaths in hospitals occur due to hospital acquired infection. (Pollack, 2010) Other estimates also suggest that almost 2 million patients are directly affected by the hospital acquired infection. As such the overall incidence of the HAI is relatively large and can become a significant cause of deaths if hospitals fail to actually implement effective hygiene controls within the hospitals. Hand washing is considered as the single most important prevention which can ensure that this infection is reduced and controlled. Frequent hand washing before and after making contacts with the patients is one of the critical steps which should be properly implemented in order to ensure that hospital acquired infections are reduced. This change proposal will exactly provide a step by step change proposal to implement hand washing in healthcare workers. Through this change proposal, higher management will be pursued to implement this step by step plan in order to implement this change. Management will be requested to actually provide resources as well as the necessary support to implement the changes at the healthcare worker level to ensure reduction in infection. Overall Change Plan This plan will outline as to how the hospital can actually implement the process of frequently washing hands by the hospital staff in order to reduce the hospital acquired infection. As discussed above, almost 2 million patients are affected by HAI and one of the single most important precautions which can be implemented in order to reduce the impact of the same. This change plan will be based upon Rosswurm and Larrebee Model (1999) and follow a six step process in following manner: Assess Need for Change Healthcare workers do not put much effort and focus on frequently washing their hand before and after they come into contact with the patients and other things. Since hospitals have relatively higher risk of acquiring this infection due to different reasons therefore it is critically important that the healthcare workers must follow strict practice of washing their hands. Currently, though this practice is followed but is not implemented properly and many healthcare workers avoid washing their hands properly. This lackluster practice can increase the HAI in our hospital and hence the overall mortality rates can be higher. Various research studies have suggested that the overall incidences are higher in US with over 2 million patients being affected throughout the country just by ignoring a simple practice of not washing the hands properly. (Pittett., 2002) There is therefore a clear need for implementing this change in order to not only reduce the HAI but improve the working of the healthcare professionals also. Problem Intervention Outcome The term hand washing actually identifies with the practice comprised of different actions to actually decrease hand colonization to reduce microbiological flora. The standard practice of hand washing includes removing dirt and flora from the hands by using the detergents and other hygiene products. The practice of hand washing is considered as important however, historically, healthcare workers have shown relatively low compliance with this. An effective intervention by the management to actually increase the compliance of washing hands regularly and following particular protocols can reduce the overall incidence of this infection. If management intervenes into this, it can reduce the overall acquired infection and will also result into reduction of the cost. Best Evidence Nosocomial infection or hospital acquired infection occurs to almost 7%-8% of the patients and this ratio may increase over the period of time given the fact that healthcare workers have low compliance with the practice of hand washing. Various studies and practices have shown that hand washing is probably the most important practice which can be implemented to reduce Nosocomial infection. Higher incidence rates coupled with low compliance among healthcare workers therefore outlines that the problem can be relatively difficult to handle if hospitals actually fail to increase the compliance. This potential conflict between what evidence suggests and what is actually practiced by the hospitals can be reduced if hospitals actually undertake a systematic plan to implement change within the hospitals and train healthcare workers to become more responsive towards hand washing practice. (Creedon, 2006) Design Practice Change In order to implement this change, it is critical that management must actually first issue instructions for all healthcare workers to follow and compliance with the practice of hand-washing. Quality standards of the hospital should be improved to include hand washing as a mandatory process for the healthcare workers. The yearly evaluation of the employees by their supervisors must also include the evaluation on the basis of washing their hands and complying with the instructions of washing their hands frequently. Management must also ensure to provide all the facilities such as detergents, adequate water as well as other facilities which can help the healthcare workers to actually easily find all the resources required to comply with these instructions. Implement and evaluate change  As discussed above, management will have to provide the required resources in order to enable healthcare workers to easily wash their hands. This must also be done in a manner where the overall time of the healthcare workers is efficiently utilized while still complying with the requirements of washing the hands. Annual appraisals of the employees should be used to evaluate whether the implemented change has been actually followed or not. Supervisors of the health care workers should be made accountable for the compliance of quality standards. Hospital should also implement the process of periodically listing the incidences of hospital acquired infection and compare as to whether there has been a considerable reduction in HAI after the implementation of this practice of hand washing. Integrate and Manage Change In order to further integrate this change into the everyday practice of the hospital, it is important that management must be proactive in its approach. The overall scope of this change should be expanded and all the personnel working within the hospital should be gradually introduced to this change in order to minimize the chances. Further, in order to manage this change effectively, it is critical that management must set up periodic reviews and communication. Through periodic communication, management can actually motivate employees to continue to comply with this practice. This can help motivate the employees and will also signify the commitment of management to continue to pursue this practice. Summary Hospital acquired infection is one of the common infections in hospitals and is effecting almost 2 million patients every year. However, despite such high incidence ratio, this infection can be controlled through the implementation of strict hand washing practice in healthcare workers. The six stage process of change described above will help hospital to actually design and implement this change. There is a clear need of increasing the compliance of washing hands during their duty hours. Evidence clearly suggests that hospital can reduce HAO therefore proper intervention from hospital can help reduce this number. Management must improve its quality standards and implement strict policy of washing hands. In order to acquire the desired results it also needs to provide resources so that healthcare workers can actually get easy access to them. Periodic review and feedback from supervisors can help to ensure that change is integrated and implemented. Bibliography Creedon, S. A. (2006). Health Care Workers' Hand Decontamination Practices : An Irish Study. Clinical Nursing Research, 15(6), 6-26. D., P. (2002). Improving compliance with hand hygiene in hospitals. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 21, 381-386. POLLACK, A. (2010, Feburary 26). Rising Threat of Infections Unfazed by Antibiotics. Retrieved September 30, 2012, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/business/27germ.html?em=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1267412412-yP2bfl/3pu4+g34XVmluJA&_r=0 Read More