CMM93010: Preventing and Controlling Health Care Infections Report

This report, focusing on the prevention and control of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs), examines the significance of HAIs in healthcare settings. The report highlights that HAIs are a major source of poor patient outcomes, emphasizing that the majority of HAIs are preventable through the implementation of correct policies and procedures. It delves into the roles of infection control staff, hand hygiene, aseptic techniques, and environmental decontamination in mitigating the risks. The report discusses the inputs contributing to HAIs, such as patient variables, healthcare practices, and administrative factors. It also covers the outputs or outcomes of HAIs, including morbidity, mortality, and increased healthcare costs. Furthermore, the report underscores the importance of quality healthcare, effective infection control, and the need for continuous improvement to ensure patient safety and reduce the burden of HAIs. The references include key research on infection control practices, hand hygiene, and the impact of HAIs on healthcare systems.

Running head: HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Preventing and Controlling Health Care Associated Infections
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

1HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Abstract
For the past few centuries the literature has been well aware of the incidence and unwanted
complications of health-associated diseases (HAIs). There has always been an alarming increase
in the incidence of HAIs. Originally, it was referenced in acute care (formerly known as
nosocomial disease), but now the word refers to diseases that were obtained in a spectrum of
medical environments. Nursing and medical practice has been shown to be capable of taking
transient microorganisms from intact skin and from environmental surfaces. Hand hygiene and
aseptic procedures can decrease the transient transport and transfer of micro-organisms before
caring for a vulnerable patient. In addition to contributing to the best results, the protective
advantages of the infection control are cost-effective and many more. They safeguard health
employees, boost awareness of problems related to infection management in all healthcare
environments and retain the highest norms in the field of infection, which adds favourably to
provide best possible patient outcome.

2HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion of inputs of Health Care Associated Infections:...........................................................3
Discussion of outputs of Health Care Associated Infections:.........................................................6
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
References:......................................................................................................................................9

3HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Introduction:
The most important source of ill patient outcome is health -care related infections (HAI).
Research has shown that the bulk of HAIs can be avoided through right policies and procedures.
SA Health Infection Control Service in South Australia analyses HAIs and provides government
guidelines, resources, and procedures for the prevention and/or control of diseases, and
antimicrobial resistance across all clinical contexts (SA Health, 2019). Reduction and avoidance
of HAI is considered to be the greatest problem for patients and is defined in the third standard
by National Safety and Quality Health Service (Allegranzi & Pittet, 2009). These norms are
applicable in all Australian hospitals with the requirements required for excellent clinical
practice. In order to be accredited, compliance with these norms is obligatory. Likewise,
numerous strategies for the prevention and control of HAIs have been developed, including the
establishment of normal and transmission-based safeguards, the implementation and tracking of
manual hygiene programs that guarantee adherence of health workers, aseptic protocols and
systems and management of medical devices, clean and hygienic job environments (Brady et al.,
2012).
Discussion of inputs of Health Care Associated Infections:
Infection control staffs have been shown to have a significant function in preventing and
preventing patient and health care workers infections. The ICP is typically appointed to carry out
on-going surveillance of diseases at particular wards, to calculate and report infection rates to
critical employees, to provide employees with training and instruction, to react to and enforce
outbreak control measures and to consult on the issue of health of the employees. The physician
acquires knowledge from present science journals and fundamental training courses through

4HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
schooling involving infection monitoring, infection control and the epidemiology (Collins,
2008).
The primary defence of daily infection control procedures in order to avoid infection and
transfers from bacteria to other patients includes medical employees and other health care
providers. Every year, training is required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
in the prevention of blood borne exposures, but further infection control training and regular
aseptic care assessments are needed as part of the planned patient safety activity for medical care
clinical care (registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants), as are
other health care staff (D’Alessandro et al., 2014). The distinctive possibility for care providers
is the recognition and use of evidence-based processes to decrease health care-related infections
directly among patients and to protect the health of the employees. Clinical nurses prevent
infection directly through aseptic job practice, monitoring and ensuring adherence; provide
comprehensive cooperative surveillance on environmental decontamination to avoid patient-to-
patient transmission of micro-organisms; and serve as main tools for identification and referral of
tourists and employees (D’Alessandro et al., 2014).
Various factors affect HAIs, including patient variables (e.g. disease acuity and general
health status), variables on health care (e.g. antibiotic use, use of the invasive medicinal device),
administrative variables (e.g., nursing ratio to patients, nursing level education, temporary or
permanent nurse) and the varying use by health personnel of aseptic methods. Although patient
factors and care providers are frequently attributed to HAIs, scientists have shown that additional
factors in institutions can lead to adverse events (Magill et al., 2014). Adherence to and
advancement of hand hygienic involves numerous variables on an individual and system level in
order to provide patients and health care personnel with an organizational security environment.

5HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Methods for enhanced hygiene of hands involve multidisciplinary involvement to recognize
individual views, factors of compliance and perceived obstacles. The achievements of the
program have been summarized and should be evaluated for enhanced hygiene at your plant as a
priority programme. Appropriate hand hygiene and use of gloves is a key factor in the security
and decrease of HAIs for patients. It is cheaper than the price of therapy for an infection
associated with healthcare (Magill et al., 2014).
A varied population of pathogenic microorganisms originated from the ordinary intact
skin of a patient or from infected injuries are contained in the health care setting around a patient.
About 106 flat, keratinised, dead microorganism epithelium cells are removed from ordinary skin
daily, while patient cloths, bed sheets and bedside tiles can readily be contaminated with patient
flora (Collins, 2008). Patient surfaces can also be contaminated by pathogenic bacteria (e.g.,
MRSA or VRE patients, Clostridium difficile) and can hold feasible organisms for several days.
In order to decrease contamination of hands before touching clean general-purpose surfaces like
the computer keyboards, the telephones, the medical carts, medical records, cleaning supply, etc,
regular hand hygiene may be carried out (contaminations also apply on the outer surfacing of
gloves when worn) (Weber & Rutala, 2013). It is also crucial to decrease direct or indirect route
of transmission by properly disinfecting prevalent surfaces and by appropriate hand hygiene
processes (after direct contact with surfaces or contact with gloves). Tenacity of environmental
contamination following room disinfection can happen and the risk of infection to the next
vulnerable occupants has lately been demonstrate (Weber, Anderson, & Rutala, 2013).
Healthcare workers assess their professional outcomes on the basis of results that show
the proper execution of medical and nursing orders, the failure to develop the sentinel event, the
correct use of clinical judgement to enhance patient care, and that most nurses leave stable or

6HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
healthier than at their arrival. The institution's administrators, managers and individual
professionals are responsible for reducing risks. Leaders are clearly driving values, driving
values and conduct driving an organization's output. An organization's collective conduct defines
its culture (De Bono, Heling, & Borg, 2014). They develop and simultaneously apply a structure
to support the efficient application of new techniques and evidence-based practices. If patients
are not given all the evidentiary care they are advised of (regardless of non-infectious results),
we have a professional responsibility to show leadership in developing techniques for improving
this care. Each organization should provide health workers with evidence - based procedures
have access to infection control knowledge, use the resources and incentives required to make
changes and obtain in-patient feedback on domestic and comparative hospital information in real
time (Zingg et al., 2015).
Discussion of outputs of Health Care Associated Infections:
Quality of healthcare means that the right person is doing the right thing in the right way
and at the right time and with the best possible health outcomes. Quality outcomes should be free
of defects, restrictions and products that add no value to clients. In terms of health care, faults or
limitations could be uncertain health systems; lengthy waiting listing for patient care, bad
performance leading to an efficient and inefficient service, improper use of technology or
resources leading to waste that does not add value to clients. Worldwide studies show that HAI is
a significant cause of morbidity and death (Baylina & Moreira, 2011). A high frequency of HAI
shows bad quality and preventable expenses in the provision of health care services. As part of
the basic activities in healthcare institutions, the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia
continuously improves the quality of care and provides a secure working atmosphere. They
further clarify that an efficient strategic infection control that avoids infection transmission

7HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
should be one of the key issues of quality of care between individuals in the healthcare setting.
An adjustment of efficient management quality systems is essential to manage infections. The
lack of HAI does not always imply high quality health care (Baylina & Moreira, 2012). HAI
does not exist. It is just one thing that is essential to achieve beneficial results, such as
satisfaction of patients, reduced waste, cost savings and improved health status. Consequently,
strategic alternatives to achieve quality in healthcare must be sought through effective HAI
monitoring.
HCAI can impact patients in any kind of environment and may also occur after discharge.
In addition, employee infections are included. HCAI is the most frequent adverse event during
healthcare and the problem cannot yet be solved by any organization or nation. It is estimated
that hundreds of millions of clients in the globe are impacted by HCAI each year based on
information from a number of nations. In low-and middle-income nations, the burden of HCAI is
several times greater than in high-income nations (WHO, 2019). HCAI findings every day in
long hospital stays, long-term disabilities, improved antimicrobial resistance to microorganisms,
huge health systems extra expenses, elevated patient and family expenses and unnecessary
fatalities. While HCAI is the most common negative occurrence for health care, it still has a real
worldwide burden, due to the challenge of obtaining accurate information, which means that
most nations lack HCAI surveillance systems, and those who do fight against the complexity and
the uniformity of diagnostic requirements. HCAI's burden is one of Clean Care's main fields of
job: Safer Care. Systematic literature reviews have been carried out in order to determine the
extent of the HCAI issue and to recognize the published research in both developed and
developing nations (WHO, 2019).

8HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be concluded that the, all health care providers have a duty to implement care
values to avoid healthcare-related infections, but not all infections can be avoided. A person may
acquire infection because of the development of his own endogenous bacteria or by cross-
contamination in the healthcare environment, depending on their susceptibility. Antimicrobial
treatment benefits will change the microbial flora by decreasing one microbial presence but may
enable another to develop, causing fresh disease. Infection and colonization risk may be reduced
by means of evidence-based aseptic job methods that decrease endogenous or exogenous
organisms’ entry via invasive medical instruments. The adequate use of protective barrier and
good manual hygiene are essential to reduce the danger that a sensitive patient is exposed to
exogenous transmission.

9HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
References:
Allegranzi, B., & Pittet, D. (2009). Role of hand hygiene in healthcare-associated infection
prevention. Journal of Hospital Infection, 73(4), 305–315.
Baylina, P., & Moreira, P. (2011). Challenging healthcare-associated infections: A review of
healthcare quality management issues. Journal of Management & Marketing in
Healthcare, 4(4), 254–264.
Baylina, P., & Moreira, P. (2012). Healthcare-associated infections–on developing effective
control systems under a renewed healthcare management debate. International Journal of
Healthcare Management, 5(2), 74–84.
Brady, R. R., Chitnis, S., Stewart, R. W., Graham, C., Yalamarthi, S., & Morris, K. (2012). NHS
connecting for health: Healthcare professionals, mobile technology, and infection control.
Telemedicine and E-Health, 18(4), 289–291.
Collins, A. S. (2008). Preventing Health Care–Associated Infections. In R. G. Hughes (Ed.),
Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2683/
D’Alessandro, D., Agodi, A., Auxilia, F., Brusaferro, S., Calligaris, L., Ferrante, M., …
Pasquarella, C. (2014). Prevention of healthcare associated infections: Medical and
nursing students’ knowledge in Italy. Nurse Education Today, 34(2), 191–195.
De Bono, S., Heling, G., & Borg, M. A. (2014). Organizational culture and its implications for
infection prevention and control in healthcare institutions. Journal of Hospital Infection,
86(1), 1–6.

10HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS
Magill, S. S., Edwards, J. R., Bamberg, W., Beldavs, Z. G., Dumyati, G., Kainer, M. A., …
Nadle, J. (2014). Multistate point-prevalence survey of health care–associated infections.
New England Journal of Medicine, 370(13), 1198–1208.
SA Health. (2019). Healthcare associated infections: SA Health. Retrieved July 24, 2019, from
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/
clinical+resources/clinical+topics/healthcare+associated+infections
Weber, D. J., Anderson, D., & Rutala, W. A. (2013). The role of the surface environment in
healthcare-associated infections. Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases, 26(4), 338–344.
Weber, D. J., & Rutala, W. A. (2013). Understanding and preventing transmission of healthcare-
associated pathogens due to the contaminated hospital environment. Infection Control &
Hospital Epidemiology, 34(5), 449–452.
WHO. (2019). WHO | The burden of health care-associated infection worldwide. Retrieved July
24, 2019, from WHO website: https://www.who.int/gpsc/country_work/burden_hcai/en/
Zingg, W., Holmes, A., Dettenkofer, M., Goetting, T., Secci, F., Clack, L., … Pittet, D. (2015).
Hospital organisation, management, and structure for prevention of health-care-
associated infection: A systematic review and expert consensus. The Lancet Infectious
Diseases, 15(2), 212–224.