Infection Control Practice in Acute Care Centers - Essay Example

Infection Control Practice in Acute Care Centers Infection Control Practice in Acute Care Centers Introduction Hospital acquired infections are illnesses or diseases that are acquired or developed within the hospital environment or other healthcare settings due to microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. The most common health care acquired infections currently include respiratory infections, surgical wound infections, gastrointestinal infections as well as genitourinary infections among others. According to the Klevens, Edwards and Richards (2007), hospital acquired infections are currently one of the most common complications of health care in the United States, resulting in nearly 1.7 million infections and up to 99,000 deaths every year. Other recent estimates indicate that the average annual costs related to hospital acquired infections currently range from$4.5 billion to $11 billion. The substantial patient morbidity of the healthcare associated inflections is particularly attributed to a number of risk factors that significantly increases the susceptibility of hospitalized patients to infections by viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. Compared to others, patients hospitalized or under intensive care units often have a significantly higher risk of developing infections. Generally, some of the major risks include poor or compromised immune systems of hospitalized patients due to illnesses, overcrowding, invasive medical procedures that are often carried out in patients in acute healthcare centers and most importantly, poor infection control practices among nurses and other medical staff in many acute healthcare centers. Although hospital-based infection control measures and policies have been in place since the 1950s, the risk of health care acquired infections continues to be higher due to the lack of proper application, malpractices and implementation of these policies. For example, in most cases, the absence of effective infection practices such as failures to follow proper procedures or conform with the infection control guidelines often result in poor conditions thereby causing hospitalized patients to develop infections. Some of the likely reasons for the non compliance with hospital acquired infection control policies among nurses and other medical staff in acute healthcare centers often include work overload, lack of motivation, time, education, patient turnover, staff attitude and state barriers. However, substantial empirical evidence suggests that many hospital acquired infections can effectively be prevented or reduced through a number of strategies of improving infection control practices. Significance and Problem Hospital acquired infections are a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States. With approximately 1.7 million inpatients getting hospital acquired infections each year, these infections have not only resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives but are also costing the American health care system billions of dollars annually. Nevertheless, the contemporary challenge of hospital acquired infections is not based on formulating policies that govern infection control practice; the real challenge is in the appropriate application of the defined policies. Often times, nursing staff never comply entirely with the existing policies leading to heightened HAI. The malpractices that arise while these healthcare professionals use the existing policies are attributed to issues like staff attitude, education and lack of motivation. Generally, improved management and better aqcuintance with the recent research findings on the loop holes leading to HIA and the best approaches to adopting Infection Control Practice is bound to minimize the malpractices that surround the infection control practices thereby limiting the number of deaths within the healthcare units. Methods/Search Strategy The primary aim of the present research is to investigate and find strategies that can be employed to effectively reduce Hospital Acquired Infections through improving infection control practice. The paper particularly scrutinizes existing literature on the ways of improving infection control practice by nurses and hospital management in acute care units within clinics in order to provide a theoretical set of recommendations that can result into supportable approaches. The study uses an extensive series of cross-searches and a combination of key words like hospital staffing, nursing practices, hospital leadership and management, patient and staff outcomes, and hospital physical surrounding derived from EBSCO, Science Direct, MEDLINE and Alt Health Watch research databases. Literature Review A number of previous empirical studies have investigated the strategies that could help to minimize healthcare acquired infections through improvement of Infection Control Practice within different health care units. Many authors particularly concur that the most effective way of mitigating and reducing the prevalence of hospital acquired infections is to ensure effective implementation of the quality control measures and evidence based management practices in the hospitals and other care centers. This is particularly based on the notion that the environmental setting of an acute care center is critically essential in espousing improved healthcare delivery and adhering to recommended infection control practices can help reduce transmission rates in these healthcare environments. In their study on the working association between control programs and infection prevention plus environmental services and the associations with antibiotic-resistant organisms within the Canadian acute care hospitals, Zoutman, Ford & Sopha (2014) investigated the working association between the Environmental Services and Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) and the implication of that association on antibiotic-resistant organisms (AROs) rates. The survey involved 58.3% of the Canadian-based acute care hospitals. Lead professionals charged with infection control completed a web-based survey that evaluated the Environmental Services and the IPAC working association in the context of acute care hospitals in 2011. In particular, the survey assessed issues such as staff training, cleaning collaborations and infections such as Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) infection. From the study, 65.8% of the respondents revealed that their cleaners had sufficient training and 62.4% of the respondents confirmed that their hospitals were adequately clean. A higher collaboration between the Environmental Services and IPAC was associated with minimized levels of MRSA infection. Similarly, frequent collaboration pertaining to cleaning protocols was associated with limited VRI rates. Based on this study, it is evident that improving a collective working relationship coupled with extra training regarding environmental services would be anticipated to minimize ARO rates. Tina et al. (2013) also conducted a survey on how different hospital-acquired infections could be avoided via the embracement of certain best practices. A seminal survey that pertains to US-based data that was collected in 1990-2002 asserted that catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) represented up to 32% of all the infections acquired within the hospital premises, rendering it the most widespread infection. About 449,000 CAUTIs happen within the U.S hospitals on an annual basis at a cost that tunes to about $450 million. In 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recognized CAUTI as a hospital-acquired condition whose reimbursement required documentation as exists on admission. As a result, the 2012 National Patient Safety Goals associated with the Joint Commission urged that hospitals should embrace evidence-based approaches in a bid evade the CAUTIs. Other than demanding for a more proximate working relationship between the healthcare professionals and researchers, evidence-based practice also offers the nurses with a chance to offer more dynamic, effective and personalized healthcare services while maximizing the impacts of clinical judgment. Whenever the healthcare facilities utilize evidences from research studies in defining best practices rather than supporting the existing practices, the care services remains at par with the up-to-date technological advancements while taking advantage of new discoveries from different research endeavors. In a review of another study aimed at alerting the health care facilities that what they do not know can harm their patients, Carling & Bartley (2010) used both fluorescent targeting and direct covert observation to confirm that a number of the health care professionals do not comply with the existing hospital policies when cleaning the near patient surfaces within the premises of the health care facilities. Similarly, they review other studies which confirm that any patient admitted to a room that is previously occupied by a patient who features hospital pathogens has a considerably higher risk of aquiring the selfsame pathogens. In the context of the current studies which reveal the possibility to improve disinfection cleaning to over 100% above the baseline, these findings reflect the importance of reducing environmental contamination associated with the high-touch surfaces of the health care units. Discussion The findings of the comprehensive literature review of the 10 previous impirical studies on the approaches that can be employed to reduce Hospital Acquired Infections by improving infection control practice revealed a number of strategies and potential solutions that can broadly be categorized into better leadership and management of the healthcare industry on one hand and improved education on infection control practices. According to many experts, effective leadership and management of the hospitals and other acute care centers can significantly contribute towards improvement of infection control practices through better staffing and recruitment, enhanced feedback and motivation among others (Tina, 2013, WHO, 2002, Carling and Bartley,2010). In terms of better staffing and recruitment, an effective leadership and management often employ adequate staff. This may work toward reducing work overload and time wastage thereby resulting allowing the nursing staff and other employees of acute care centers to comply with the infection control policies. On the other hand, enhanced feedback and motivation often results in improved efficiency at the acute care centers. For example, better motivation and feedback often results in improved working relationships and attitudes towards the job including maintenance of the infection control measures (Carling and Bartley,2010). Another important way through which hospital acquired infections can be reduced by improving infection control practice that is evident in many of the reviewed previous publications is through education. For example, many authors suggest that continuous training programs on hospital infection control best practices should be provided to all the employees. On the other hand, when conducting a work place environmental audit, it is advisable to involve an outsider who might have a different perspective to the hospital management. By doing this, management can be forced to revisit their plans and strategize to include recommendations offered by the outside catalyst. Finally, as part of the education to improve infection controls, training programs should also focus on improving the individual behaviors of the staff in the acute care centers to ensure their adherence to the infection prevention practices. Conclusion In conclusion, effective leadership and management of the hospitals and other acute care centers can significantly contribute towards improvement of infection control practices through better staffing and recruitment, enhanced feedback and motivation among others. References Carling P.C & Bartley J.M. (2010). Evaluating hygienic cleaning in health care settings: What you do not know can harm your patients. American Journal of Infection Control , 41-50. Conway, T., & Langley, S. (2013). Reduicing hospital associated infections. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assuarance, 26(2), 12-15. Klevens R., Edwards J, Richards C. (2007).Estimating healthcare-associated infections in US hospitals. Public Health Rep. 122, 2,160-166. Tina L. (2013). Using Evidence-Based Practice to Reduce Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections. American Journal of Nursing 2013 , 34-42. Verschueren, M., Kips, J., & Euwema, M. (2013). A review of leadership of head nurses and patient safety and quality of care. Advances in Health Care Management, 14, 76-89. Zoutman, D. E., Ford, B. D., & Sopha, K. (2014). Working relationships of infection prevention and control programs and environmental services and associations with antibiotic-resistant organisms in Canadian acute care hospitals. American journal of infection control, 42(4), 349-352. World Health Organisation (WHO). (2011) Report on the Burden of Endemic Health Care-Associated Infection Worldwide. A systematic review of the literature. Available at http://www.who.int/en/  WHO. (2002). Prevention of hospital-acquired infections: A practical guide-2nd edition. Retrieved on October 31, 2014 from http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/whocdscsreph200212.pdf Read More