Background
One of the most common challenges in different departments of healthcare facilities, including the emergency department, is hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). HAIs, which are also referred to as nosocomial infections, are infections that patients will get while they receive treatment for various surgical or medical conditions. Hospital-acquired infections, therefore, occur in all settings of healthcare facilities, including ambulatory clinics, surgical centers, emergency departments, rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care facilities (Haque et al., 2018). Normally all patients that are hospitalized will be susceptible to contracting hospital-acquired infections. However, young children, individuals with compromised immune systems, and elderly people will be more likely to get HAIs (Haque et al., 2018). Other risk factors for hospital-acquired infections include the use of indwelling catheters in healthcare facilities, longer hospital stays, overuse of antibiotics, and failure of healthcare workers to wash their hands (Haque et al., 2018).
In healthcare facilities across the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nosocomial infections will cause at least 99,000 deaths every year and an estimated 1.7 million infections (Khan et al., 2017). Nosocomial infections are therefore caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and pathogens. The most common types of nosocomial infections include pneumonia, such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, and urinary tract infections (Khan et al., 2017).
Significance of the Topic to Nursing Practice
The issue of nosocomial infections is of great significance to nursing practice because such infections heavily undermine the provision of quality health care services to patients. According to Khan et al. (2017), patients who acquired infections in healthcare facilities are more likely to spend an average of additional 6.5 days in the hospital. Patients who acquire infections in healthcare facilities are also more than five times more likely to be readmitted after they are discharged from healthcare facilities and also twice likely to die. According to the CDC, hospital-acquired infections also account for at least 10 billion dollars in healthcare expenditure annually (Khan et al., 2017).
The negative outcomes associated with hospital-acquired infections, including increased hospital stays among patients, a high chance of readmission after discharge, and an increase in the chances of a patient dying, therefore make nosocomial infections a significant issue in nursing practice. In contemporary times nurses are also required to work actively in enhancing the efficiency of healthcare delivery and reducing the cost of health services while assuring patients of quality healthcare services (Khan et al., 2017).
The involvement of nurses in the reduction of hospital-acquired infections is therefore important. Over the years, various scholars have provided numerous evidence-based practices that can be adopted by healthcare practitioners, including nurses, to reduce the rate of nosocomial infections in their health care facilities. These include healthcare providers frequently washing their hands before and after caring for patients, the reduction of the use of catheters in healthcare facilities, use of personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, hair covers, and gowns where appropriate, and frequently cleaning of skin where catheters are inserted in the surgical site(Haque et al., 2018).
PICOT Questions
References
Haque, M., Sartelli, M., McKimm, J., & Abu Bakar, M. B. (2018). Healthcare-associated infections – an overview. Infection and Drug Resistance, Volume 11, 2321–2333. https://doi.org/10.2147/idr.s177247
Khan, H. A., Baig, F. K., & Mehboob, R. (2017). Nosocomial infections: Epide
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