Healthcare-Associated Infections | Report

Running head: HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Healthcare-Associated Infections
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HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
PPE Policy.......................................................................................................................................3
Managing HAUTI through PPE policy...........................................................................................3
Analysis of UTI...........................................................................................................................4
Why is the issue happening?........................................................................................................4
Is UTI a common issue?..............................................................................................................6
Does the issue occur in a specific area or is it a widespread issue?............................................6
Nursing Practice...........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12

HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS2
Introduction
Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) are also known as "nosocomial" or "hospital"
infection that occurs in patients during their treatment procedure (Allegranzi, Nejad & Pittet,
2017). However, it is not sure when they might acquire the disease, as it can happen when they
are being admitted to the hospital or can occur when discharging from the hospital. Hospital
associated urinary tract infection (HAUTI) is one of the most common healthcare-associated
diseases that occur in hospitals, and bladder infection is the most common type of urinary tract
infection (UTI) (McLellan & Hunstad, 2016). The UTI can cause severe symptoms and
conditions that can be distressing for the patients and can lead to severe complications. Thus, it
has become an important policy to reduce the incidence of HAUTI. According to some of the
governmental websites and literature studies few individuals are at higher risk of acquiring UTI,
especially the women and young age girls as their urethras are shorter compared to the men and
it is closer to the rectum, due to which it becomes easy for the bacteria to enter the passage of
urinary tract (McLellan & Hunstad, 2016). HAI is a form of the disease which is linked to
clinical ethics. However, it also results in public health consequences. During the treatment of
UTI, physicians should keep their focus on the treatment of their patient and should try to
prevent the transmission of the bacteria. This paper discusses the PPE policy, how the hospital-
associated urinary tract infection related to the current guidelines and will give a detailed
description of the urinary tract infection (Allegranzi, Nejad & Pittet, 2017).

HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS3
PPE Policy
The objective of the Personal Protective Equipment Policy is to ensure the safety of the
staff members and the clients (in healthcare system - nursing staff members and the patients)
from getting exposed to the workplace hazards (bacteria in a healthcare system that lead to
HCAI) and the danger of injury through the utilization of personal protective equipment (PPE)
(Hancock, 2016). In other terms, the PPE is the equipment used to protect the healthcare staff
members and the patient form any harm occurring from the healthcare surroundings. It prevents
the spread of germ in the hospital setting (Hancock, 2016).
Managing HAUTI through PPE policy
A national Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program was developed by the Agency of
Healthcare Research and Quality which had a goal to decrease the incidence rate of catheter-
associated UTI in intensive care units (ICUs) and non-ICUs divisions. For this program,
information was collected from 926 units (59.7% were non-ICUs, and 40.3% were ICUs) in 603
hospitals in 32 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (Saint et al., 2016). It was seen
that the unadjusted catheter-associated UTI percentage reduced from 2.82 to 2.19 infections per
1000 catheter-days. In the non-ICU departments, the rate of catheter-associated UTI rates
decreased from 2.28 to 1.54 infections per 1000 catheter-days. It was seen that the guidelines and
the policies which were being followed in the program helped in diminishing the catheter use
and catheter-associated UTI rates in the non-ICU departments. However, the decrease percentage
of the catheter-associated UTI remained unchanged in the ICU divisions (Saint et al., 2016).