Hospital Acquired Infections Assignment

Running Head: INFECTIONS
Hospital Acquired Infections
[Name of the Researcher]
[Name of the Tutor]
[Institute]
[Date]

Infections 2
Table of Contents

Infections 3
Hospital Acquired Infections
Introduction
The main aim of this essay is to critically analyse the hospital acquired infections.
The patient who is admitted is at risk of acquiring an infection in the hospital. These
infections are called nosocomial infections. In the United States, approximately 4 to 5% of
hospitalized patients acquire a nosocomial infection, and approximately 75,000 of these patients
die each year. The risk of infection is greater in babies, Older people, and People who have a
weakened immune system. Nosocomial infections can be caused by bacteria or fungi. Fungal and
bacterial infections can be dangerous and lethal. Organisms that are acquired from hospitals are
generally resistant to many common antibiotics. The frequent use of antibiotics in hospitals
favours the development of resistant strains. Hospital-acquired infections include pneumonia,
urinary tract infections, surgical wound infections, and blood infections.
Discussion
Hospital infections are today a serious public health problem in the country. Nosocomial
infection is any infection acquired during hospitalization (provided it has not been incubated
prior to hospitalization) or related to some procedure performed in the hospital (for example,
surgeries), which may even manifest itself after discharge. Currently, the term nosocomial
infection has been replaced by Health Care Related Infection (HAI) . This change covers not
only hospital-acquired infections, but also those related to outpatient procedures, during home
care, and to occupational infection acquired by health professionals (doctors, nurses,
physiotherapists, among others).