Nursing Strategies for Health Care-Associated Infections

Nursing strategies for health care-associated infections
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Introduction
Management of unexpected events in the hospital care and high risks environments such
as a hospital is fundamental. Modern arena of medical care has led to increasingly complex
forms of treatments and care process leading to enhanced opportunities for improved care but
also elevated increased risks of adverse events and patient harm. Development management as
pertaining to clinical risks assessment is vital focusing on the clinical process which directly or
indirectly relates to the patient. The rise of hospital-acquired infections is critical in
undertaking clinical risks assessment in hospital care. Healthcare-acquired infections also
referred to as nosocomial infections are caused by increased morbidity to patients as they
receive treatment for various medical conditions. This essay focuses on patient’s management
practices aimed at reducing hospital-acquired infections which poses greater risks to the
vulnerable population at the ward level. Management of hospital-acquired infection can be
undertaken through isolation and hand hygiene practices in the ward. This essay focuses on
these key two strategies and the role played by nurses in implementing these avenues so as to
improve patient safety at the ward.
Key strategies
Hospital-acquired infections play a vital role in the safety concerns of both the health
care providers and patients in general. In view of increased morbidity and mortality and
increased length of stay at the ward level among the patient there is a need for improved care
and prevention of infections, various guidelines and have been developed and implemented
among the nursing personnel in critical ward areas aimed at surveying and managing infections
in the hospital (Barker et al., 2017).
Utilization of isolation control measures ensures that there are an accurate means of
assessing patient status, especially among the Intensive care unit patients units. Isolation is
critical for patients who are having immunological disorders, diarrhea, skin rashes,

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communicable diseases and carriers of epidemics strain of the bacterium (Otter et al., 2015).
Implementing this type of strategy in the nursing arena entails identifying the type of
isolation needed. In the intensive care unit, there are two types of approaches used;
implementation of protective isolation process for neutropenic and other immune compressed
patients, with the aim of lowering the chances of developing opportunistic infections. Further
another avenue is through the source of isolation through infected patients so as to minimize
potential transmission among the patients and staffs present (Masse et al., 2016).
Isolation of patients will be fundamental in the ward so as to reduce communicable
disease among the patents and the staff. Diseases in the wards can be communicated through
various forms such as contact, vehicular transmission, airborne and vector transmission.
Depending on the contagious nature of the disease the occurrence of transmission can take
place in the intensive care unit (Ronak et al., 2017).
According to the CDC, isolation is geared at protecting other patients from the
contagious nature of the diseases. Special equipment has been employed in protection avenues.
This includes protective equipment such as separation gowns and masks. Isolation in the
Intensive care unit ward, should not be mistaken with quarantine. The latter referred to the
compulsory confinement of persons (Martin-Loeches et al., 2015).
At the Intensive care unit ward, implementation of isolation will entail the creation of
isolation war which will be fundamental in separating patients from infectious diseases. The
isolation unit creation will entail locating away from the main entrance to the intensive care
unit. Placing ventilation as a form of reducing airborne infection is vital for the prevention of
transmissions (Mehta et al., 2014).
Patient isolation is often an expensive aspect towards the organization and the role nurses
have to do to implement these actions. It is often time-consuming and often uncomfortable to
patients themselves and can have an impediment towards care delivery. failure or delay in

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isolating patients with multi-drug resistant microorganism often lead to more serious adverse
outcomes. It often leads to increased risks of health deterioration of the patients.
The institutional requirements for implementing isolation wards and areas often come
with increased costs. The design of isolation wards is key to the prevention of hospital-acquired
infections. The designs and constructions of the unit, call for a placement. Incorporating
ventilations in the designs units of the isolation wards is fundamental in ensuring that there is
free circulation of air which minimizes the occurrence of diseases.
The hospital designs matters in designing isolation wards. An efficient infection and
control wards should have sufficient space between the beds so as to accommodate both the
staff and equipment, separation of beds with curtains offering appropriate and good ventilation,
sufficient sanitation control and hand washing process. Thus the physical design of the health
care facility matters as a key aspect for managing infection control measures which reduce the
transmission rates of infectious diseases. Thus developing a holistic isolation ward is
fundamental for the patients as it lowers the development of hospital-acquired infections (Lim
et al., 2015).
Thus in general nurses play a vital role in the overall prevention of hospital-acquired
infections. These forms of isolation entail management of blood contact and body fluids
secretions among patients as they form vital aspects in the prevention of transmissions and
diseases between patients and also among the health care staff.
Implementation of hand washing hygiene is critical in nursing practices. Studies have
demonstrated in developed countries that campaigns and avenues such as hand washing are
vital in reducing hospital-acquired infections. Hand hygiene has been demonstrated as an
inexpensive avenue for preventing infections. Compliance rates among studies have portrayed
increased levels of 63% while other intervention studies have reported rates between 40%-60%
(Shen et al., 2017).