Background Study
Complying with the various infection control measures is essential in preventing and controlling nosocomial infections. This can, however, be facilitated by providing education and raising awareness on the infection. Most patients visiting healthcare centers might not have the necessary knowledge of the hospital-acquired infection. Without such knowledge, it would be hard to take the necessary precautions. Education and awareness are not only necessary for the patients but for the medical staff too.
Poor hand hygiene on the part of health workers, for instance, is responsible for about 40% of nosocomial infections (Khan, Baig & Mehboob, 2017). Research indicates that these infections are minimal in hospitals where nurses have knowledge of various methods of alleviating hospital-acquired infections. In such centers, there is the presence of individual towels and tissues, automated sinks and hand hygiene agents. Even though all these resources may be available in the other health centers, they may not be utilized while observing the necessary precautions. Consequently, they may enhance the spread of infections.
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Problem Statement
Patients under medical care are likely to acquire the nosocomial infection. Such infections are common across the world both in developed and developing countries. The world health organization (WHO) estimates that around 15% of the hospitalized patients suffer from nosocomial infection (Khan, Baig & Mehboob, 2017). During their stay in the hospital, patients are exposed to pathogens through the hospital staff, equipment, air droplets and bed linens. Increased infections lead to a prolonged hospital stay, social-economic disturbance, long-term disability and high mortality rate.
Research indicates that certain bloodstream and urinary tract infections can be attributed the hospital-acquired infections. The Extended Prevalence of Infection in Intensive Care estimates that approximately 51% of patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) are infected (Khan, Baig & Mehboob, 2017). The infections are a source of worry for every nation in the world. There is a need for healthcare organizations to mitigate nosocomial infection through education and awareness to prevent complications associated with the possible illness and promote positive health outcomes throughout the world.
Purpose of the Change Proposal
The purpose of providing education and creating awareness is to prevent the spread of nosocomial infections and promote health at a personal level, as well as, on macro-levels. This knowledge will change the attitude of the patients and make them realize that they have a responsibility of ensuring that hospital workers take the necessary precautions when handling them. They, for instance, should step up and remind the hospital workers to wash their hands. The proposal aims at ensuring that all healthcare workers are made aware of patients, hospital staff, and the hospital environment as the possible causes of nosocomial infections.
PICOT
Does the creation of awareness and education among patients and health workers reduce hospital-acquired infections?
| Problem | Hospital-acquired infection |
| Intervention | Creation of awareness and education |
| Comparison | Lack of education and awareness |
| Outcome | Reduced infection |
Literature Search Strategy Employed
I embarked on a literature search to find out whether the provision of education and creation of awareness among patients and healthcare workers is necessary to reduce hospital-acquired infections. I broke this question into specific subject areas to identify the most necessary keywords, synonyms, and spellings. I mostly used Boolean operators to combine my search terms as a way of either broadening or narrowing the scope of the results. Besides, I used search filters to limit the search results and align them with the research question. Such filters included publication dates, subject, and the article type.
I for instance used ‘or’ whenever I needed a broad search and ‘and’ when I needed narrower search results. To review the most relevant scientific literature available, I searched on some online bibliographic databases for the literature published after 2012 in the areas identified as necessary to the statement of task. I sear
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