Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Healthcare Associate Infections
Hospitals are often associated with providing care and treatment in the face of an illness. However, what is not often discussed is that many patients who are admitted to hospitals contract infections from the hospital itself. Infections which are acquired from a hospital are known in the medical community as nosocomial infections (Avic, 2012). I am interested in exploring how nosocomial infection occurs and how they can be prevented. I am specifically interested in assessing how nurses can contribute to reducing incidents of nosocomial infections and the role that they play in patient infection rates. By analyzing the most vulnerable patients, this paper attempts to identify when an infection is likely to occur, where they are most likely to be contracted, and the safeguards that must be put in place to prevent the nosocomial infections.
Avic, et al., review the frequency, types, and outcomes of hospital acquired infections in members of the elderly population. Their study is important because it identifies...
Avic et al., review data from over 60,000 individuals who are the age of 65 and over 40,000 individual between 18 and 64 (Avic, 247). The conclusions of the study are very troubling, contrary to lay opinion infections are not simple ailments; indeed, in elderly populations who already have a compromised health, a hospital acquired infection can be fatal. Avic et. al found that across the board, infections of all types including, urinary tract infections, primary bacteria infections, and respiratory infections were all higher in the elderly group (Avic, 248) For more concerning than the infection rate is the fatality rate which accompanied the infections. Of the elderly patients who contracted a nosocomial infection, upwards of 20% died as a result of the complications induced by the infection. The complications were primarily cardiovascular in nature (Avic, 249-50).
In the same way that elderly individuals who are admitted…
References
Avci, M., Ozgenic, O., Coskuner, S., & Olut, A (2012). Hospital acquired infections (HAI) in the elderly: Comparison with younger patients. Archives of Gerontology & Geriatrics, 54(1), p. 247-250.
Rahim, R, A., & Barnett, T. (2009). Reducing nosocomial infection in neonatal intensive: An intervention study. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 15(6), pp. 580-584.
Healthcare Associated Infections: Critical Analysis The prevention and control of healthcare associated infections is an issue that has attracted considerable attention across the globe given the increase of healthcare associated infections. Despite the development and use of several strategies and measures to lessen the burdens caused by healthcare associated infections, the practices of healthcare professionals are largely suboptimal while the infections persist. As a result, the prevention and control of these
In the U.S healthcare environment, the clinical practice guidelines are the effective healthcare protocol to enhance patient’s safety as well as achieving evidence-based practice. The clinical guidelines provide recommendations to the best available practice to assist clinicians and other healthcare professionals to deliver best and quality care. More importantly, the clinical practice guidelines are designed to optimize patients’ care using the systematic assessment and evidence based review to assess pros
Amin, B et al. (2013). Pitfalls of calculating hospital readmission rates based on nonvalidated administrative data sets. Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, 18(2): 134-138. This study examines the University of California's Medical Center in San Francisco in order to determine if its all-cause readmission rates accurately reflect the readmission rates for spine injury patients. The secondary purpose of the study is to identify readmission predictors. The researchers collected data from 5780
Healthcare Associated Infections for the Nursing Profession Despite the most rigorous and comprehensive universal precautions, healthcare facilities are still germ-ridden environments that can introduce potentially deadly infections in patients. Hospitals and clinics in particular are notoriously infectious environments, and nosocomial infections due to methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRSA) are increasingly commonplace across the country (Boa & Rahube, 2013). For instance, Boa and Rahube emphasize that, "Numerous nosocomial MRSA outbreaks occur annually due
Nurse Communication Communication is one of the most important aspects of nursing, as the case study of the student and the instructor indicates. The student nurse failed to communicate to the instructor the patient's abnormal oxygen saturation reading -- a reading that could have had very serious consequences for the patient. An entire week going by before this information is relayed to another nurse is highly unacceptable, considering how much emphasis
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococci (MRSA), most common Healthcare Associated Infections The PICOT question to be discussed is: For adult patients using catheters, does the use of sterilization practices reduce the future risk of health associated infections like MRSA compared with standard procedure in one week? The answer is yes. The support given to answer the question will be based on peer-reviewed journals and scientific literature. A summary of the evidence will be availed in a