Quality and Safety in Healthcare: Infection Prevention and Control

This report provides a comprehensive overview of quality and safety in healthcare, with a specific focus on the Australian healthcare system. It delves into the importance of infection prevention and control, highlighting the risks of hospital-acquired infections and the strategies employed to mitigate them, such as hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, and proper handling of sharps. The report emphasizes the role of patient safety as a cornerstone of high-quality healthcare and discusses various measures implemented to ensure patient well-being, including improved health accessibility and the availability of resources like well-trained nurses and health insurance. Furthermore, it explores data collection methods, including process and outcome data, and the use of surveys, questionnaires, and record reviews to identify gaps, evaluate interventions, and improve healthcare delivery. The report concludes by stressing the combined efforts of patients and healthcare staff to implement appropriate measures, such as handwashing and the use of personal protective equipment, to prevent the spread of infections and maintain a safe healthcare environment.

Running head: QUALITY AND SAFETY 1
Quality and Safety
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation

QUALITY AND SAFETY 2
Quality and Safety
Quality improvement is an essential aspect of health care and service delivery. These
unexpected infections occur during treatment and have the potential of causing harm to the
health of an individual. The common sites of these infections are the surgical sites and the
bloodstream. They also create extensive economic losses by increasing morbidity rates and
extending the stay of patients in hospitals (Zimlichman et al., 2013). Research indicates that in
Australia, there are around 12000 surgical site infections associated with health care and an
estimated 17-29% patients die while receiving medication. The number of bed days that result
from bloodstream infections is approximated at 206527 bed days.
Addressing health care infection and prevention issues effectively requires the
participation of everyone together with facility-wide programs. Health care workers have the
responsibility of reducing the risk of exposure to these infections for all staff, visitors, and
patients. Standard 3 aims at minimizing the risk of the transmission of preventable diseases and
efficiently manage these infections using evidence-based strategies. It is structured to involve
senior managers, health service executives and clinicians using both a risk management and
governance framework method to enhance infection prevention and control. Its overall goal is
keeping the public safe from harm and developing healthcare is the priority by preventing and
controlling the health care-related infections. Majority of healthcare-related diseases are
preventable. The patients in hospitals are always at high risk of acquiring preventable health
infections hence more focus should be put on infection prevention.

QUALITY AND SAFETY 3
Quality and Safety in the Australian health care system
Patient safety is the foundation of high-quality health care. Quality healthcare refers to
the best achievable health outcomes considering the present conditions and resources dependent
on patient-centered care. Safety in the healthcare setting aims at reducing the risk of undesired
harm to a tolerably low level. Patient safety is the relief from health care hazards as a result of
medical error or medical care and is regarded as one of the elements of the quality framework for
healthcare practice. The Australian health care system provides high quality and safe care to its
patients (Runciman, 2012). This is clear from the number of measures they have put in place
such as improved health accessibility and availability to patients. This is an essential step
towards promoting health, ensuring health equity, reducing avoidable disabilities and reducing
early deaths (ACSQHC, 2010).
The Australian healthcare has improved quality of resources which include a high
number of well-trained nurses, a large hospital bed capacity in hospitals and providing health
insurance. The presence of nurses who have undergone advanced training ensures that quality
health care and patient-centered care is given to patients. The government has invested in
providing health insurance which enables individuals to get timely health care and hence
reducing the advancements of undesired health outcomes. It also helps reduce the financial
burden on the patients and families (ACSQHC, 2017).
Nurses and other stakeholders always work together to ensure maximum safety of the
patients. They also play a crucial role in the coordination and surveillance of patient safety with

QUALITY AND SAFETY 4
the aim of reducing adverse health outcomes such as morbidity and mortality. In recent years the
number of hospital-acquired infections has decreased in Australia. This indicates that much
effort has been put to help fight the diseases.
The prevention of the transmission of preventable health infections should be a prime
concern for all healthcare facilities. Quality and safety issues are addressed as part of the core
business of healthcare organizations due to the advantage it has. Healthcare organizations have
put in place practices to reduce the transmission of hospital-related infections. They have put in
place precautions such as practicing hand hygiene, utilizing the personal protective equipment
and the appropriate handling and cleaning of sharps to help reduce these infections (Kirkland,
2012).
The Hospitals are tasked with the responsibility of identifying the possible risks and the
suitable course of action in their facilities. They perform this task by conducting a risk
assessment and ensuring that all the staff understands their responsibility in controlling the risks.
The hospital staffs are well educated on the chain of disease transmission which includes the
mode of transmission, the source of infectious agent and the susceptible host. The primary
methods of transmission include contaminated food and water, medication and equipment. The
hospitals have also implemented measures that deal with medical safety, comprehensive care and
clinical governance to ensure overall health quality and safety (Duckett & Willcox, 2015).

QUALITY AND SAFETY 5
Clinical care activity
Effective infection prevention and control is essential to administering high-quality care
for the sick and creating a risk-free environment for individuals that work in healthcare settings.
Preventing these infections is a priority for hospitals, and as a result, they have employed the
required standards to improve health. Recognizing the various modes of disease transmission and
being well informed on when to use the fundamental principles of infection prevention and
control is essential to ensuring the success of an infection control program (Runciman, 2012).
The hospitals have put in place the practice of the five moments of hygiene according to
the world health organization to minimize contact with the infectious agents. They include
washing hands before handling and attending to a patient, after performing a procedure, after
coming into contact with a patient and after touching a patient’s neighboring surroundings. The
staff perform hand washing using alcohol hand-based rubs that have the best antimicrobial
efficacy and an excellent user approval and skin. They also use personal protective equipment
such as gloves and gowns to help avoid exposure to the infectious agent (Neo, Edward & Mills,
2012). Proper handling of the sharps is also performed in the hospitals to help prevent the
exposure of blood-borne diseases to the healthcare workers. Appropriate disinfecting of re-usable
equipment is done to help avoid patient-patient transmission of infections. The hospital staff are
also vaccinated against the communicable diseases (Duckett & Willcox, 2015).
Preventing nosocomial infections comes with a lot of benefits with include lowering the
economic burden and high hospital costs. It also increases savings from illnesses and deaths
attributed to these infections. It also leads to the reduction in the number of deaths and diseases
and hence improving the economy by ensuring that the workforce is healthy.

QUALITY AND SAFETY 6
There are numerous risks associated with low-quality care. They include an increase in
the number of illnesses and deaths. It also has an enormous impact on the child's learning and
behavior if given during the first few years of life. Studies indicate that hospital staff find the
hand washing practice simple and easy to achieve but fail to undertake it accordingly and hence
proper increasing their chances of contact disease transmission (Allegranzi et al., 2013).Hand
washing should be performed correctly to prevent the spread of the infections due to the high
number of pathogens present in the healthcare environment.
Quality health care can be improved through proactive involvement with patients. This
will ensure that they increase their trust in the healthcare system. Quality care can be developed
through healthcare system empowerment this involves engaging patients before, during and post-
care and following up on the patient. It can also be enhanced by increasing accessibility to
patients and minimizing the waiting hours. Ensuring proper communication and connectivity
with patients also helps the patient improve their relationship with health workers and hence
creating a good environment for better treatment. Asking for feedback from the patients and
implementing on the weak areas they have complained about also helps improve quality
healthcare (Donabedian, 1988).

QUALITY AND SAFETY 7
Data collection
Collection of data helps identify the gaps present in health care delivery, the
improvements that are required and the impact various interventions have made on the outcome
of healthcare processes. Evaluating performance is essential to understanding how the current
practices compare with the best actions (Taylor, 2013). Process data describe how programs are
undertaken and can be derived from medical records. Outcome data result from measures of
appropriate health care interventions or investments. It also indicates the effects of health care on
both patients and communities. An example of outcome data is level of customer satisfaction,
change in health behavior and status and the quality of life.
Outcome data can be collected through surveys and questionnaires to identify the
characteristics, behavior, and attitudes of both the patients and the healthcare staff. This is an
essential way of evaluating changes after putting an intervention into place. Sampling should be
undertaken to ensure that data provided is quality and that it represents the feelings and ideas of
the whole population (Wetherill, 2013). Patients may be given questionnaires with questions on
how contented they are with the health care services, the number of times they have been
infected with healthcare related infections and the impact it had on their lives. The healthcare
staff may be given questions on how many times they have exposed themselves to these
infections and whether there is the presence of enough personal protective equipment in the
hospitals.
Data may also be collected through record review using the medical records where one
can find the number of patients affected by the health-related infections. They contain the
number of deaths that are as a result of these infections and the cost incurred while treating the

QUALITY AND SAFETY 8
diseases. Data can also be collected through the use of Focus groups and key informant
interviews. Focus groups are essential in identifying the barriers to enacting interventions and
finding a solution to the problems. Data can also be collected through process mapping. It
involves identifying the current happenings, identifying the issues present and identifying how
individuals relate with the present systems (Ott & Longnecker, 2015).
Chambers (2017) demonstrated that data can be analyzed data through using percentages,
rates, and percentages to compare individuals in a specific health facility identify the source of
the problem. It may also be used in making comparisons between before and after putting an
intervention into place. Data may also be analyzed using the measures of center that is the
median, mean and mode to give an idea of what the average, most common or representative
data may be. Data may be presented through tabulation in row or column format to enable
further tabulation or analysis. Data may also be displayed using graph and charts to efficiently
report the findings to others. Data acquired can be made public and fed back to ensure
improvements in quality care by identifying the gaps present, the interventions that are working
and how to improve health care (Locock, Ziebland & Calabrese, 2014).

QUALITY AND SAFETY 9
In all cases, as stated by the world healthcare organization, a productive health care
system needs a robust financial system, well trained and adequately paid personnel, authentic
information on where to center policies and decisions and a well-functioning health system to
deliver quality health care. Consequently, the absence of the spread of healthcare infections
depends on the adherence to the appropriate measures recommended to hospitals. Patient safety
plays a crucial role in providing quality healthcare and hence primary focus should be made on
it. Less are resources used in the prevention of healthcare-related infections compared to the
resources used during treatment (Zimlichman et al., 2013). This indicates that it is cheaper to
prevent than treating the disease and hence emphasis should be put on the prevention of the
infections
Controlling these infections requires combined efforts from both the patients and hospital
staff. Measures mentioned in the essay such as hand washing should be appropriately
implemented to prevent the spread of the infections. Nurses and other health staff should be
encouraged to perform the practice efficiently to avoid exposure to these infections. The
importance of putting on personal protective equipment should be stressed to all the hospital staff
to prevent them from getting infected. Hand washing facilities and the protective equipment
should always be provided to the hospital staff (Runciman et al., 2012). Health care personnel
can undertake this procedure efficiently and maintain clean environment together with
monitoring the occurrence of the infection will to help minimize the illnesses and deaths that
result from these infections.

QUALITY AND SAFETY 10
References
Allegranzi, B., Gayet-Ageron, A., Damani, N., Bengaly, L., McLaws, M. L., Moro, M. L., ... &
Donaldson, L. (2013). Global implementation of WHO's multimodal strategy for
improvement of hand hygiene: a quasi-experimental study. The Lancet infectious
diseases, 13(10), 843-851.
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). (2010). Australian
safety and quality framework for health care. Retrieved from
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). (2017). National
safety and quality health service standards (2nd ed.). Sydney, Aust.: Author. Retrieved
from https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/assessment-to-thensqhs-standards/
Chambers, J. M. (2017). Graphical Methods for Data Analysis: 0. Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Donabedian, A. (1988). The quality of care: How can it be assessed? JAMA, 260(12), 1743-1748.
doi:10.1001/jama.1988.03410120089033
Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford
University Press.
https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/national-priorities/australian-safety-and-qualityframework-
for-health-care/
Kirkland, K. B., Homa, K. A., Lasky, R. A., Ptak, J. A., Taylor, E. A., & Splaine, M. E. (2012).
Impact of a hospital-wide hand hygiene initiative on healthcare-associated infections:
results of an interrupted time series. BMJ Qual Saf, qhc-2012.

QUALITY AND SAFETY 11
Locock, L., Ziebland, S., & Calabrese, J. (2014). Collecting data on patient experience is not
enough: they must be used to improve care. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 348.
Neo, F., Edward, K. L., & Mills, C. (2012). Current evidence regarding non-compliance with
personal protective equipment-an integrative review to illuminate implications for
nursing practice. ACORN: The Journal of Perioperative Nursing in Australia, 25(4), 22.
Ott, R. L., & Longnecker, M. T. (2015). An introduction to statistical methods and data analysis.
Nelson Education.
Runciman, W. B., Coiera, E. W., Day, R. O., Hannaford, N. A., Hibbert, P. D., Hunt, T. D., ... &
Braithwaite, J. (2012). Towards the delivery of appropriate health care in
Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 197(2), 78.
Runciman, W. B., Hunt, T. D., Hannaford, N. A., Hibbert, P. D., Westbrook, J. I., Coiera, E.
W., ... & Braithwaite, J. (2012). CareTrack: assessing the appropriateness of health care
delivery in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 197(2), 100.
Taylor, M. J., McNicholas, C., Nicolay, C., Darzi, A., Bell, D., & Reed, J. E. (2013). Systematic
review of the application of the plan–do–study–act method to improve quality in
healthcare. BMJ Qual Saf, bmjqs-2013.
Wetherill, G. B. (2013). Sampling inspection and quality control (Vol. 129). Springer.
Zimlichman, E., Henderson, D., Tamir, O., Franz, C., Song, P., Yamin, C. K., ... & Bates, D. W.
(2013). Health care–associated infections: a meta-analysis of costs and financial impact
on the health care system. JAMA internal medicine, 173(22), 2039-2046.