Introduction Hospital acquired infections, (HAI) also known as nosocomial infections refer to those infections that occur within 48 hours of hospital admission, 30 days of an operation, or 3 days of discharge10. Nosocomial infections can be quite traumatic and can have significant consequences to the patients16. They can cause significant mortality, morbidity, health care costs, and potential legal liability. The infections lengthen patients’ stay in hospitals and often significantly delay their return to previous recreational and occupational activities.
This poster provides an overview of the causes and factors contributing to the rise of nosocomial infections and outlines prevention strategies. Implications and recommendations for research are provided Types and Causes Classification based on the 2008 report by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care1, 5. 1. Organism: Responsible organisms for infection include vancomycin-resistant entorococci (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)11, multiresistant gram-negative bacteria, and Clostridium difficile 4.
2. Physical location: These include surgical site7 caused by bacteria from skin flora and bloodstream infections 15 as a result of bacteraemia. Bloodstream infections, largest contributor to morbidity and mortality12. 3. Patient populations: High risk groups include newborns and ICU patients5. Factors contributing to rise • Nurses and other health professionals non-compliant, not wearing proper Personal protective equipment (PPE) when attending to patients or procedures14 • Poor implementation of surveillance guidelines.
• Inappropriate hand hygiene protocols. 14 • Inappropriate use of antimicrobials12. • Cross contamination from clothing and uniforms of health care professionals and patients visitors. 9 • Antimicrobial resistance pathogens causing HAI. 9,14 Prevention • Proper surveillance and monitoring in hospitals5. Implementing surveillance system in line with the Queensland Health Research and Surveillance of HealthCare Associated Infection standard13. • Implementation of proper hand hygiene program in accordance with national hand hygiene initiative.
1 • Proper insertion, management and removal of intravascular13 in line with the Queensland Health Management of Intravascular devices Implementation Standard. • Vaccination of health workers against immunisable diseases • Incorporation of infection control strategies in all aspects of healthcare service planning. • Implementation of antimicrobial stewardship program. • Maintaining a clean environment. • Providing to patients consumer specific information on nosocomial infections. Implications and recommendations for research
• Need to make hospital acquired infections a priority research issue. • Need to examine the effectiveness of current policy guidelines on prevention and control • Need to make prevention and control to be everyone’s business. • Ongoing surveillance will allow effectiveness of infection control measures. 12 • Proper gowning and disposable of PPE. 9 • Isolate infected people- confine people into a defined area within the health care setting . 2 | |Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia |Surgical-site infections.
Infection rate |Infection rate | | |No. of |Averageb |Inter-quartile |No. of |Averageb |Inter- | | |Reporting |per |rangec |Reporting |per 100 |Quartile | | |hospitals |100 000 |per 100000 |hospitals |surgical |rangec | | | |occupied |occupied bed | |patients |per 100 | | | |bed days |days | | |surgical | | | | | | | |patients | |Public |103 |8. 27 |0–0. 89 |37 |2. 30 |0–1. 95 | |Private |53 |6. 03 |0–5. 55 |36 |0. 26 |0–0. 86 | |Total |156 |7. 41 |0–3. 50 |73 |0. 76 |0–2. 33 .