Healthcare Associated Infections, Risk Factors, and Hand Hygiene

This report delves into the critical issue of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) and the pivotal role of hand hygiene in their prevention. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the increasing prevalence of HAIs and the need for preventive measures in healthcare settings. The report explores the various risk factors associated with these infections, including surgical procedures, catheter use, and overuse of antibiotics. It then examines the significant impact of HAIs on patients, including physical, emotional, and financial consequences, and discusses effective preventive strategies, such as maintaining high standards of hygiene and proper sterilization of equipment. A major focus is placed on hand hygiene, detailing its effectiveness in minimizing the spread of pathogens and the importance of compliance among healthcare providers. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous education, adequate facilities, and monitoring of antibiotic-resistant infections to ensure hand hygiene compliance and create a safer healthcare environment. References are provided to support the information presented.

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 1
HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS AND HAND HYGIENE
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARRY
Healthcare associated infections are becoming rampant in the world today. They have
increasingly drawn attention as they lead to serious consequences within the healthcare setting.
There is need to place preventive measures in hospitals and healthcare centers in order to protect
people from these infections. This essay discusses the risk factors associated with these
infections as well as highlights important preventive measures. It also focusses on hand hygiene
and measures taken by organizations to ensure compliance in an attempt to reduce healthcare
associated infections.

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 3
Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………..4
Analysis…………………………………………………………………………….4
Risk factors of healthcare associated infections………………...........................4
Impact of healthcare associated infections………………………………………5
Prevention of healthcare associated infections………………………………….6
Effect of hand hygiene in prevention of healthcare associated infections………7
Hand hygiene compliance……………………………………………………….8
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...9
References……………………………………………………………………………10

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 4
Introduction
Healthcare associated infections are infections that people contract in hospitals and health
care centers while receiving care for other conditions. These infections are of various types and
manifest differently depending on the causative agent. The most common causative agents of
healthcare associated infections are bacteria, viruses and fungi (Noto et al, 2015). These
infections can be quite severe and may lead to increased deterioration of a patient. In addition to
this they may lead to worsening of a particular condition under management since a patient is
exposed to more causative agents. According to statistics, every 1 out of 25 patients have
contracted healthcare associated infections as they are being treated in care facilities.
Healthcare associated infections are not only limited to hospitals but may be contracted in
any stage of management of a patient. This includes other places such as ambulatory surgical
centers, nursing homes for the elderly and long term care facilities. The environment surrounding
the patient is of significance as it contributes to housing of bacteria and other pathogens that may
infect the patient causing associated infections (Septimus & Schweizer, 2016). The aim of this
essay is to explain how infections may be spread in the healthcare environment and how the
transmission of healthcare associated infections can be prevented. In addition to this, it will
explore strategies used to ensure hand hygiene compliance as a major contributor in prevention
of these infections.
Analysis
Risk factors of healthcare associated infections

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 5
There are several risk factors that predispose a patient to healthcare associated infections.
These include surgeries whereby surgical instruments may not be well sterilized and bacteria
free, use of catheters whether blood stream, urinary or endotracheal, injections, overuse or
misuse of antibiotics and communicable diseases that are either airborne, waterborne or any
other form that might get easily transmitted among patients and health care providers. According
to Zingg et al. (2015), all these factors have significantly led to the increase in number of
healthcare associated infections over the past few years. There are several common healthcare
associated infections that patients contract in hospitals. These include pneumonia, central-line
associated blood stream infections, staphylococcus aureus infections and urinary tract infections.
Most of these infections are easily transmitted from one person to another within the
hospital setting and can affect quite a large number of people. Bacterial infections such as
pneumonia are airborne transmitted and require very little bacterial count and inoculum in order
to impact its effects to an individual (Weiner et al, 2016). In the hospital setting, congestion
within wards can lead to increased transmission of such because patients and health workers
interact within very close distances and maintain close contact with each other. Inadequate
ventilation can therefore lead to easy spread of such bacterial infections as the air becomes
contaminated within a short time. It is therefore necessary to monitor the population of patients
within a single ward and reduce these effects by increase of more wards or referring patients to
other hospitals in order to control transmission of health associated infections. Isolation of
patients with easily transmissible infections such as tuberculosis is important to ensuring such
bacterial infections do not spread to other patients who are not suffering from the same disease
(Han et al, 2015).
Impact of healthcare associated infections

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 6
Healthcare associated infections have physical, emotional and financial consequences to
patients and other healthcare seekers (Percival et al, 2015). In order to minimize these effects,
there is need for the care giver to be actively involved in ensuring that such infections are
incorporated within the nursing care plan and strategies. Due to the infections, the patient may
incur additional costs for treatment of the new infections that were contracted within the hospital
setting. This may negatively affect the patient as they might not have enough funds to cater for
such costs. In some cases whereby the hospital management was directly involved in the
patient’s deterioration by not observing hygiene, the hospital should be held responsible for such
cases and fund for the treatment of the healthcare associated infections.
Health workers are also not immune to the healthcare associated infections as they can
easily contract them from the hospital environment. Since resources such as food and water are
common to both the patients and health workers, contamination of the water can lead to severe
infections that are water borne in nature (Lessa et al, 2015). Cholera for example can cause a big
endemic within and out of the hospital setting due to contamination of these resources. This can
result from improper hygiene and sanitation and is a matter of concern. Other infections such as
fungal infections can easily be transmitted if there is contact with infected beddings and other
hospital surfaces. This can be easily prevented by observing hygiene and frequent washing of the
beddings.
Prevention of healthcare associated infections
Healthcare associated infections can be easily prevented by maintaining high standards of
hygiene as well as observing good sanitation. Most of the infections are caused by contact with
infected surfaces and use of infected equipment by patients within the hospital and care setting.
Surgical sites infections can for example be caused by use of bacterial infected surgical tools.

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 7
This can be easily avoided by adequate sterilization of the surgical equipment thereby
eliminating the risk for the healthcare associated infection. Use of infected catheters can lead to
severe infections such as urinary tract infections and septicemia (Cassini et al, 2016). This may
be due to improper cleaning of the catheterization equipment after use in one patient thereby
predisposing another patient to infection. There is therefore need to ensure that the catheters are
properly cleaned and stored before use on another patient. Proper ventilation within the hospital
and care setting is of importance also in preventing healthcare associated infections.
Effect of hand hygiene in prevention of healthcare associated infections
Hand hygiene is a simple and effective way in ensuring that healthcare associated
infections are prevented. It entails ensuring that healthcare providers and patients develop the
habit of washing their hands from now and then after contact with hospital surfaces and other
individuals. It is an effective way to maintain hygiene within care facilities and in ensuring that
pathogens are not transmitted among patients and health workers. Hand hygiene helps minimize
the spread of germs and pathogens such as bacteria that are attributable to healthcare associated
infection (Saint et al, 2016). So as to achieve best care practice and ensure patient safety as well
as prevent infection spread, there is need for hospitals and healthcare facilities to observe hand
hygiene. This entails proper washing of hands with disinfectants so as to kill any germs that can
be easily transmitted through contact. Research has recently suggested that most healthcare
providers clean and wash their hands about half the number of times they should. There is
therefore need to increase awareness and devise strategies that ensure health hygiene
compliance.
According to statistics, nearly 1 in 4 hospitals fail to comply with the guidelines of health
hygiene compliance. This has led to an increase in the number of preventable healthcare

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 8
associated infections. Hospital surfaces tend to be the habitat of various microorganisms that can
be carried by a simple touch (Leffler & Lamont, 2015). Staphylococcus aureus for example may
tend to accumulate overtime in hospital surfaces such as patient beds that are not disinfected
frequently. These bacteria can be carried from the surfaces by patients or healthcare providers
once they touch such surfaces and these can be spread to other sites with contact leading to
people within the hospital contracting diseases associated with the bacteria. This can however be
minimized by hand hygiene whereby people frequently clean and disinfect their hands before
contact with others and food items.
Hand hygiene compliance
There are several ways in which hand hygiene compliance can be observed within
hospitals and health care facilities. This includes ensuring adequate health education to patients,
staff, families and visitors regarding the importance of maintaining hand hygiene (Dudeck et al,
2015). The administration should be keen to ensure there is efficient training on how people
within the institution can comply to hand hygiene. This can be done by providing information on
the number of times they should clean their hands and ensuring there are appropriate guidelines
on how to go about it. In addition to this, there should be adequate facilities and equipment such
as water taps and sinks to ensure that people observe hand hygiene. There should be enough
water points and disinfectants including soaps to ensure that individuals engage in the habit of
washing their hands carefully. Increased awareness and reminders about hand hygiene can also
be done by placing instructive posters and issuing pocket cards to patients and workers
Since healthcare associated infections are often associated with antibiotic resistance,
there is need to monitor the rate of emerging antibiotic resistant infections within the care setting
and increase awareness on hand hygiene within the institution to curb them. In order to ensure

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 9
compliance, there is need to engage patients to provide feedback as far as hygiene levels of the
institutions are concerned. Hand hygiene compliance can also be improved by reinforcing hand
hygiene behaviors by the management. This can be done by recognizing workers who observe
high standards of hygiene within the facility and giving them rewards. Providing accountability
among the workers is also an important aspect in ensuring hand hygiene compliance.
Conclusion
In conclusion, healthcare associated infections are preventable through proper hygiene.
Many infections are easily transmissible hence there is need to ensure health facilities create
adequate awareness on how to prevent the spread of these infections. All care facilities are
mandated to provide the highest levels of hygiene in care provision (Kohler et al, 2015). This can
be done by compliance to hand hygiene by all workers and staff within the organization during
care delivery. Patients also need to ensure that engage in frequently washing their hands to avoid
contamination of surfaces within the care facility. Adequate disinfection of surfaces is of
importance in minimizing the spread of such infections.

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 10
REFERENCES
Cassini, A., Plachouras, D., Eckmanns, T., Sin, M. A., Blank, H. P., Ducomble, T., ... & Velasco,
E. (2016). Burden of six healthcare-associated infections on European population health:
estimating incidence-based disability-adjusted life years through a population prevalence-
based modelling study. PLoS medicine, 13(10), e1002150.
Dudeck, M. A., Edwards, J. R., Allen-Bridson, K., Gross, C., Malpiedi, P. J., Peterson, K. D., ...
& Sievert, D. M. (2015). National Healthcare Safety Network report, data summary for
2013, device-associated module. American journal of infection control, 43(3), 206-221.
Han, J. H., Sullivan, N., Leas, B. F., Pegues, D. A., Kaczmarek, J. L., & Umscheid, C. A. (2015).
Cleaning hospital room surfaces to prevent health care–associated infections: a technical
brief. Annals of internal medicine, 163(8), 598-607.
Kohler, P., Kuster, S. P., Bloemberg, G., Schulthess, B., Frank, M., Tanner, F. C., ... &
Sommerstein, R. (2015). Healthcare-associated prosthetic heart valve, aortic vascular
graft, and disseminated Mycobacterium chimaera infections subsequent to open heart
surgery. European heart journal, 36(40), 2745-2753.
Leffler, D. A., & Lamont, J. T. (2015). Clostridium difficile infection. New England Journal of
Medicine, 372(16), 1539-1548.
Lessa, F. C., Mu, Y., Bamberg, W. M., Beldavs, Z. G., Dumyati, G. K., Dunn, J. R., ... &
Wilson, L. E. (2015). Burden of Clostridium difficile infection in the United States. New
England Journal of Medicine, 372(9), 825-834.
Noto, M. J., Domenico, H. J., Byrne, D. W., Talbot, T., Rice, T. W., Bernard, G. R., & Wheeler,
A. P. (2015). Chlorhexidine bathing and health care–associated infections: A randomized
clinical trial. Jama, 313(4), 369-378.

Healthcare associated infections and hand hygiene 11
Percival, S. L., Suleman, L., Vuotto, C., & Donelli, G. (2015). Healthcare-associated infections,
medical devices and biofilms: risk, tolerance and control. Journal of medical
microbiology, 64(4), 323-334.
Saint, S., Greene, M. T., Krein, S. L., Rogers, M. A., Ratz, D., Fowler, K. E., ... & Faulkner, K.
(2016). A program to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection in acute care.
New England Journal of Medicine, 374(22), 2111-2119.
Septimus, E. J., & Schweizer, M. L. (2016). Decolonization in prevention of health care-
associated infections. Clinical microbiology reviews, 29(2), 201-222.
Weiner, L. M., Webb, A. K., Limbago, B., Dudeck, M. A., Patel, J., Kallen, A. J., ... & Sievert,
D. M. (2016). Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens associated with healthcare-associated
infections: summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011–2014. infection control & hospital
epidemiology, 37(11), 1288-1301.
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.