Standard 3: Preventing and Controlling HAIs

Standard 3 is crucial in addressing Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) which are the most common complication that affects patients in different healthcare facilities. This article discusses the importance of Standard 3 in preventing and controlling HAIs, the financial benefits of employing prevention and control practices, and the need for a collaborative approach to ensure successful infection control and prevention.

Running head: STANDARD 3: PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING HAIs 1
Standard 3: Preventing and Controlling HAIs
Name
Institution

STANDARD 3: PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING HAIs 2
STANDARD 3: PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING HAIs
Introduction/Background
The clinical problem or issue selected here is the “Healthcare-Associated Infections”
(HAIs), and the Standard three has been chosen to help address this issue/clinical problem. The
HAIs denotes the infections that the sick get when they are being treated for the surgical and
medical conditions, and a significant proportion of such infections are preventable. The
contemporary healthcare applies several kinds of devices (invasive) and procedures when
treating patients and to assist their patients to recover. However, the infections can be attributed
to procedures such as surgery alongside the devices utilized in the medical procedures like
catheters/ventilators (Chandrananth, Rabinovich, Karahalios, Guy & Tran, 2016).
The HAIs remain significant causes of both mortality and morbidity and are linked to a
considerable surge in healthcare costs every year. At any given time, the Australians who are
hospitalized are affected by a HAIs. The HAIs takes place in each kind of care context. These
include acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgical centres, dialysis facilities, outpatient care as
well as long-term care facilities. The common types of HAIs include pneumonia, bloodstream
infections, surgical infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and Clostridium
difficile (Choi et al., 2015).
The HAIs is a critical clinical problem or issue due to many reasons. HAIs are substantial
sources of complications crossway a continuum of care. These infections can be transmitted
between various healthcare facilities. Nevertheless, the latest research indicates that the
implementation of current prevention practices can culminate in up to 70% reduction in some
HAIs. Similarly, the newest modelling data indicate that significant reductions in the resistant

STANDARD 3: PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING HAIs 3
bacteria including MRSA can be accomplished via the coordinated tasks between the healthcare
facilities in a particular region.
The financial benefits of employing the prevention and control practices are
approximated to be about 25 to 32 billion dollars in the cost saved that would otherwise be spent
on medication. The HAIs risk factors can be categorized into three primary categories. These
include medical procedures alongside antibiotic use; organizational elements as well as patient
features. The healthcare practitioner behavior alongside their interactions with the healthcare
system further influences the HAIs rate (Mathot, Duke, Daley & Butcher, 2015).
Research has shown that correct education coupled with training of healthcare workers
surges compliance with as well as the adoption of best practices like infection control, attention
to safety culture, hand hygiene as well as antibiotic stewardship can help prevent HAIs. Because
of the magnitude of the health risk to patients, there is a need for the practitioners to adopt the
following best practices (Grammatico-Guillon, Rusch & Astagneau, 2015). These include careful
insertion, maintenance as well as the prompt elimination of catheters and the careful utilization
of antibiotics. The other best practice is decolonization of patients with the evidence-based
technique to decrease the MRSA transmission in the hospitals.
Trends/Themes Synthesis
The objectives of Healthy People 2020 measure the progress in Australia and globally
towards the reduction of CLASBSI incidences alongside invasive MRSA infections.
Nevertheless, the new wok is called for to ensure effective implementation of the Standard 3 to
prevent and control HAIs effectively (Farmer & Mitchell, 2010). Besides, there are additional
main kinds of HAIs which Hospital Healthcare System must work to avoid. These other types
include the HAIs triggered by antibiotic-resistant pathogens (Graves et al., 2016). They include

STANDARD 3: PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING HAIs 4
catheter-associated urinary tract infections, surgical sites infections, ventilator-associated events
or ventilator-associated pneumonia as well as Clostridium difficile infections.
The studies have indicated that several of such infections remain preventable. Attempts
are underway to expand not only the implementation of Standard 3 but also other strategies
proven to prevent the HAIs better, advance useful prevention tools’ development, as well as
explore the new-fangled approaches to prevention (Ezzatzadegan, Chen & Chapman, 2012). A
significant share of strategies and energies to prevent HAIs have been directed towards acute
contexts. Delivery of healthcare, increasingly, including the complicated procedures, is already
being moved towards outpatient setting like ambulatory surgical centres, long-term care facilities
as well as end-phase renal illness facilities (Mitchell, Shaban, MacBeth, Wood, & Russo, 2017).
Such contexts usually have restrained capacity to oversight alongside infection control
than the hospital-oriented ones. Patients with HAIs alongside those triggered by antibiotic
resistance pathogens, typically move between a range of healthcare facilities types. Therefore,
preventions energies have to be expanded crossways the care continuum. Furthermore, the
challenges brought by antibiotic-resistant pathogens alongside C. difficile stay best tackled via
coordinated actions amongst the healthcare facilities in a particular area.
It is clear that HAIs is a clinical issue or problem that needs a new raft of measures to
address. The HAIs remain amongst the most common, substantial and preventable patient safety
clinical issue presently. Yearly, 180,000 patients in Australia suffer HAIs thereby elongating
their stay in the hospitals. This further consumes two million hospital bed days. The HAIs impact
encompasses surged patients mortality and morbidity risks, elongated stay in hospitals, decreased
QoL as well as extra costs for consumable products utilized in the treatment of HAIs for both
system and patients. The HAIs produce a substantial economic and health burden for both health

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system and the patients. For instance, one Australian state discovered that additional costs linked
to merely 126 surgical sites HAIs stood at more than five million. Moreover, prolonged
utilization of antibiotics as the initial line of defense to a surged quantity of HIAs has culminated
in the increase of antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Such bacteria remain regarded as having a
significant impact on the mortality and morbidity, hospital costs as well as stay as opposed to the
ones resulting from the antimicrobial infections.
Discussion: Relevance to Practice, Research or Profession
The results of the review have enormous implication for clinical practice or research or
the profession. First, it cements the need to understand the rationale behind the implementation
of the Standard three effectively. The primary intention of the Standard 3 (S3) is to prevent
patients from the acquisition of “preventable healthcare-associated infections” and efficiently
manage the infections as they occur utilizing evidence-based strategies. From the synthesis of the
literature, it is clear that the preventable infections can cause severe illness and even potential
deaths (Mumford et al., 2015). Therefore, S3 purposes to minimize the risk for patients in the
acquisition of these infections and to allow these infections to be managed efficiently
immediately they take place. At least 50% of associated healthcare infections are imagined to be
preventable. Both overseas and Australian studies have demonstrated that there are mechanisms
that can minimize the infections rate triggered by healthcare (Shalit, 2016).
There is a need for the entire healthcare system and the innovation stakeholders to start
showing the need for Standard 3 full implementation. This is because the Standard 3 has
explicitly recognized the need to make HAIs a national goal. It has identified HAIs as the
common and preventable patient safety risk including both health and outcomes. For such issues
as hygiene of hands, the infection prevention, and control as well as prescription of

STANDARD 3: PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING HAIs 6
antimicrobial, the Standard 3 has attempted to adddress the disparities between the “best
practice, and the delivered care (Mathot, Duke, Daley & Butcher, 2015). Therefore, this Standard
offers strong evidence and guideline on best practices, compliance with hand hygiene and if well
implemented will ensure that optimal hygiene is achieved thereby decreasing the occurrence of
HAIs and antimicrobial resistance. Standard 3 entails well-researched actions and strategies that
can be applied to the system to prevent and control HAIs rates in Australia significantly. The
practitioners must increasingly use coordination, the focus of effort as well as collaboration
between all stakeholders via the national goal framework on HAIs thereby contributing to
substantial alteration within the coming years (Si, Runnegar, Marquess, Rajmokan & Playford,
2016).
The prevention and control of infection practices are purposed at reducing the resistant
infectious agents’ development and reduce the transmission risk via the isolation of those with
such infectious agents. Nevertheless, because there is no single trigger of infection, no one
solution exists that can prevent infections (Mitchell & Shaban, 2018). Fruitful prevention and
control of infections practice call for an array of strategies crossways the healthcare system.
Whereas all prevention and control programs of infections show fundamental aspects which have
to be taken into account, it is anticipated that programs shall be customized to reflect the local
setting and risk. Irrespective of type or size of the health facility, the implementation success of
S3 relies on the clinicians as well as the executive leaders who must work cooperatively (Russo,
Cheng, Richards, Graves & Hall, 2015).
The implementation of this Standard arises from the gaps already identified in the NHMR
2010. Therefore, there is a need to address these disparities and priorities by having the
departments and groups in health facility working collaboratively to accomplish enhanced

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outcomes thus supporting the quality alongside safety of patients, workforce as well as
consumers. Effective governance together with management systems for the “healthcare-
associated infections” must be implemented as well as maintained to achieve the S3.
The inherent need for measuring the HAIs and illness burden or surveillance is central
to the attempts to prevent and control HAIs. Australia lacks a national HAI surveillance
framework or system, and this makes it profoundly challenging to assess HAIs systematically
and subsequently report on the HAIs burden. There is a growing trend or need for Australia to
have a reliable and credible estimate of HAIs incidence. This is a period of finite health
resources (Mitchell, Shaban, MacBeth, Wood & Russo, 2017). Thus such an estimate will be
helpful in prioritizing prevention and control strategies for this HAIs.
Further, having such a reliable estimate will offer the best benchmark against which the
future targets and accomplishments are measured as well as evaluated. This estimate will further
allow the healthcare industry and the associated stakeholders in innovations to enjoy a more
reliable data to invest in commodities and research. It will also assist in the determination of
essential resources for the prevention and control of HAIs relative to additional health issues.
Also, on the eve of the “post-antibiotic” period, the need for a systematic and coordinated
national surveillance alongside reporting of HAIs and known contributing factors, including
antimicrobial resistance alongside antibiotic utilization is of great significance. Therefore, it is
believed that three parallel strategies are essential to address such a disparity. First, there is a
need for the state together with national government agencies to determine and act to accomplish
consensus definitions, approaches to surveillance as well as transparent regular reporting. This
must take place simultaneously with the national HAIs surveillance program establishment.

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There have been increased calls for a national centre illness control, specifically a
national HAIs surveillance initiative might be integrated into this centre. There is a need for a
national point study on prevalence to give useful insights in the short run on the HAIs burden in
Australia. Provided that the latter doesn’t need a sophisticated research design and offers
descriptive outcomes, it has never been preferably bolstered by funding agencies. Whereas such
suggested recommendations have till now failed to eventuate, the stakeholders in HAIs
surveillance are urged to work together to publish data in the literature.
Conclusion
Standard 3 remains an essential standard in addressing HAIs which are the most common
complication that affects the patients in different healthcare facilities. In Australian healthcare
context, a significant number of patients are undergoing treatment under proximity to one
another. These patient go through invasive procedures whereby the medical devices are inserted
in them as well as receiving vast-spectrum antibiotics/immunosuppressive therapies. Such
conditions avail ideal opportunities for spread and adaptations of pathogenic, infectious
organisms (Ezzatzadegan, Chen & Chapman, 2012).
The HAIs increasingly complicate the recovery process and surge costs of healthcare by
prolonging the hospital stays’ length, alongside desired treatment and care. Moreover, increasing
problem of such organisms being resistant to present antimicrobial treatments have been noted.
Many HAIs remain preventable. Thus, infections and control practices like hand hygiene,
personal protective equipment use, disinfecting equipment, cleaning environment and
vaccination are acknowledged as desired part of the efficient response to infection prevention
and control alongside resistant to antimicrobials.

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This has been provided by the Standard 3 which includes the utilization of surveillance
data in the identification of resistant organism and proper prescription of the antimicrobial
thereby decreasing the resistant organisms’ development (Cruickshank & Murphy, 2009). There
is a need for a collaborative approach to ensure successful infection control and prevention
coupled with an array of strategies crossway all health service organization levels. Such
approaches and strategies have been described in Standard 3.
With full implementation of Standard 3, systems to support as well as promote HAIs
control and prevention will be availed. Systems for safe and suitable prescription and utilization
of antimicrobial which is an integral part of antimicrobial stewardship will be avail (Worth,
Spelman, Bull, Brett, & Richards, 2016). It will also help in the prompt identification of patients
at high risk of HIAs at global, national and local level hence receiving proper management
alongside treatment. The Standard three will also ensure clean organization and reprocess re-
cycled medical devices, instruments as well as equipment that are consistent with appropriate
present national standards as well as instructions of manufacturers.

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