Infection Control And Prevention Practices †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Infection Control And Prevention Practices. Answer: Introduction Infection control and prevention practices are essential for maintaining safe environment for all patients. The procedure helps in reducing risks of potential disease spread from an infected person to a healthy person (Tacconelli et al. 2014). Infection control practices are primarily designed with the aim of reducing risks of hospital acquired or nosocomial infections, and for ensuring a healthy and safe hospital environment for the health care providers patients and visitors. This infection control practices help in preventing spread of microorganism from patient to staff members or other patients (Rosenthal et al. 2013). It is selected as the research topic as it is imperative to health practices and forms the primary component of different invasive procedures, which are administered upon patients in hospital settings. Reason for undertaking research The research activity on infection control practices has been undertaken to improve existing knowledge and awareness. Hospital hygiene has gained much publicity, including concerns of the patients about their safety while being admitted in hospital. This has contributed to making infection control a topic of major research interest in clinical practice, as well as in the community and media. Nursing and health-science students are the frontlines of clinical practice, which in turn increases the risks of acquiring infections (Stone et al. 2012). This exposure to infectious disease is therefore regarded as a major occupational hazard. Therefore, there is a need to create provisions for training programs and knowledge based activities that will provide nurses and other healthcare professionals with relevant information on protecting themselves as well as the patients from different pathogens. Hence, improvement of knowledge on preventing spread of infectious disease is of paramount impo rtance in nursing practice. The research activity will help me in increasing and strengthening my awareness on the appropriate nursing standards needed for infection control, thereby facilitating enhancement of my professional development and clinical practice. Research question The research question is given below- Is hand hygiene practice beneficial in preventing hospital acquired infection? Research objective To establish effectiveness of hand washing practices, in infection control, across healthcare settings. Another discipline that can be associated to this research activity includes medical staff that is exposed to all kinds of body fluids. Several physicians staff and medical residents are subjected to occupational exposure when there occurs a laceration, scratch, splash, or prolonged contact, with broken skin that involve body fluids and blood, containing potentially infectious material (Butsashvili et al. 2012). Such fluids mainly include peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva, synovial fluid, semen, and vaginal secretions, and may contain harmful pathogens for Hepatitis and HIV (Mashoto et al. 2013). Sources Two sources that will be utilized to gather information on relevant articles related to infection control are as follows: Cochrane Library- https://www.cochranelibrary.com/ PubMed- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ Methodology Relevant information will be collected by searching articles from the above mentioned to sources. Information will also be collected from infection control and hand hygiene guidelines proposed by the World Health Organisation. These guidelines will help in acquiring and accurate description of the procedures that should be followed while performing hand washing. Furthermore, the infection control guidelines will also provide a better understanding on the rates of surgical site or healthcare associated infections in hospital settings, and strategies that should be adopted for strengthening infection prevention and outbreak. The research question is specific and comprehensive. Searching relevant literature will involve use of specific key words that will assist in retrieving articles that are valid, and relevant to the question. Keywords such as infection control, infection prevention, hygiene, hospital infection, nosocomial, hand wash, hand hygiene will be used, in addition to boolean operators OR, AND, and NOT. These boolean operators will exclude a relevant or and publish articles. Systematic review will be considered relevant for the research activity due to the fact that these reviews contain critically relevant information from multiple research articles, and will facilitate a better understanding of appropriate and effective hand hygiene techniques. The review will also help in general icing the findings and can be implemented in actual nursing practice. Systematic approach A systematic review was conducted to evaluate effectiveness of hand hygiene techniques in reducing community transmission of acute respiratory tract infection and influenza. The research focused on identifying community studies that examines effects of hand hygiene exposure, on risks of developing these infections. It carried out an exhaustive research of relevant articles from several databases such as Medline, Embase, Global Health, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Two authors were involved on retrieving relevant articles after determining their eligibility, related to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. 16 articles were included for the final review. Results from the review established the fact that laboratory confirmed influenza rate was lower among people, who received hand hygiene intervention, upon comparison with control. Another study reported similar findings that there was a significant reduction in rates of influenza A, in the intervention group. Another clustered randomised trial included in the review suggested significant reduction in rates of breathing difficulty and cough among children, subjected to the intervention technique. Although some articles did not show significant effects of hand hygiene procedures in rates of influenza and respiratory infection, the entire systematic review was able to provide moderate to high quality evidence that hand hygiene is positively correlated with a large reduction in infection rate in domestic and institutional settings (Warren?Gash, Fragaszy and Hayward 2013). A randomised trial determined the impacts of five moments for hand hygiene educational intervention on patients. The trial was based on previous studies that showed improve access to hand hygiene products were effective in increasing the practice among patients, and health care personal. The researchers hypothesized the fact that patients are willing to perform hand hygiene practices when their healthcare personnel provided nonverbal reminders on its importance. The research was conducted on four medical surgical wards, by randomising patients to the intervention and control group. The researchers focused on five moments for the hand hygiene model, which were, before and after touching the devices or wounds, before eating, after using rest room, while entering and leaving the room, and when a healthcare personal entered the room. All participants were provided with bottles of hand sanitizer that contained a push stop dispensing device, placed on bedside table. Moreover, the intervent ion group was also given education by members of the study team, unlike the control group, and was questioned on their willingness to perform hand hygiene practices. Use of hand sanitizer by the patients were also measured by weighing them its afternoon for consecutive three days, or until it was discharged. Frequency of hand hygiene practices was also measured, followed by conduction of a student t-test and fisher test to compare weight of sanitizer, and frequency of the practice for each group. Result findings suggested no difference in baseline characteristics of the two groups. However, the intervention group was found to use hand sanitizer more than the control group. Upon entry of the personnel, the intervention group displayed better hand hygiene practices on day 1. Therefore, the study demonstrated and effectiveness of the five moments and hygiene model in improving hand hygiene practices performance among patients in a hospital setting (Rai et al. 2017). Another report focused on providing a details description of the planning and implementation procedures related to use of hand hygiene dispensing system in healthcare facilities in Canada. The report focused on the fact that hand hygiene products that include hand lotion, soap, and alcohol-based hand rub, are ubiquitous across all Healthcare facilities in Canada and the United States. It recognised the need of transition due to potential cost savings, superior quality of product, dispenser compatibility, electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems, and advanced dispensing systems. The planning strategies included evaluation of the options that were available for hand hygiene practices. The researchers identified five criteria that were imperative to its evaluation, such as, cost, standardization, serviceability, quality and safety. They also focused on the importance of skin tolerability, efficacy and experience of the users. Moreover, the planning strategies illustrated important sta ff this practices in mental health settings. Free dispenser availability and their compatibility with electronic systems were also considered essential for improving compliance to these practices. Linking groups with the purchasing organisation and engaging essentials stakeholders in the practice were also recognised as important steps. The group purchasing organisations were considered because they conduct exhaustive clinical reviews on deciding products and technologies that will be made available. Implementation strategies focused on appropriate storage and staging areas where the bulk of the sanitisers and dispensers would be kept, followed by their proper installation, disposal and an effective education program to help the users understand their use. The report suggested that the aforementioned procedures would be successful in generating leftovers talk of old HHPs (Amirov, Candon and Jacob 2017). A three-year interrupted time series study that focused on sequential interventions and a post intervention follow-up period for one year assessed impact of hospital right hand hygiene initiatives on nosocomial infections. The study focused on the fact that healthcare professionals often demonstrated a failure to clean and wash their hands on a regular basis, which contributed to increase rates of hospital-acquired infections. It conducted multifaceted improvement initiatives in a 383-bed teaching hospital, in New Hampshire. The initiative was formed as a part of the hospital infection prevention program, following an approval from the Institution Review Board. Five overarching areas were identified for hand hygiene practices. The researchers emphasize on importance of hand hygiene with the help of leaders at all organisation levels for preventing patient and healthcare professional heart. Hand hygiene audits were initiated at all units and surveillance was conducted on a monthly bas is. The study also emphasised on availability of hand sanitizer across all units, and developed an electronic learning video and training module for educating the dancing stuff on hand hygiene. It also focused on marketing strategies for increasing awareness on infection prevention. The monthly changes were observed in rates of infection and hand hygiene compliance among the healthcare workers. Significant improvements were observed in hand hygiene compliance during the initiative, which further increased, during the follow up period. Nurses were found to demonstrate more compliance when compared to physicians. Thus, the initiative was able to create significant reduction in infection rates (Kirkland et al. 2012). Comparison A comparison of the aforementioned randomised controlled trial and the report are given in the appendix. Conclusion- To conclude, it can be stated that nosocomial infections occur due to spread of viral bacterial and fungal pathogens that are commonly found among patients, who receive treatment in intensive care units. An analysis of the findings helped in drawing the conclusion that following appropriate hand washing technique and guidelines, and providing appropriate training on their uses, will significantly help in controlling rates of infection. It will prevent bacterial colonization, thereby reducing infection. Impact Nurses should be well placed for promoting appropriate and hashing techniques and practice, and should follow the guidelines, for influencing cultural changes and their organisation. They should take precautionary steps while washing their skin before and after handling all sorts of blood, body fluids or surgical instruments (Huis et al. 2013). Failure to attend proper hand hygiene, may lead to adverse consequences on the quality of life, of the patients, as well as the Healthcare professionals (Loveday et al. 2014). Use The information collected will be used in workplace for making nursing staff and other healthcare professional show compliance to the recommended guidelines. Hand washing products and dispensers will be made easily available for the patients and the staff, to reduce hospital acquired infections (Simmons et al. 2013). Reflection The research activity help me understand that infection control should be considered as the utmost priority in healthcare settings. I understood that the nursing staff are expected to ensure adherence to good infection control practices, for reducing or eliminating all kinds of risk factors that can be detrimental to the health of their clients of themselves. Issues There is a need to conduct extensive research on impacts of education and training program in improving awareness of nursing staff and patients, for infection control (Kelckova, Skodova and Straka 2012). References Amirov, C.M., Candon, H.L. and Jacob, L., 2017. Making change easy: A peer-to-peer guide on transitioning to new hand hygiene products.American journal of infection control,45(1), pp.46-50. Butsashvili, M., Kamkamidze, G., Kajaia, M., Morse, D.L., Triner, W., Dehovitz, J. and McNutt, L.A., 2012. Occupational exposure to body fluids among health care workers in Georgia.Occupational medicine,62(8), pp.620-626. Huis, A., Schoonhoven, L., Grol, R., Donders, R., Hulscher, M. and van Achterberg, T., 2013. Impact of a team and leaders-directed strategy to improve nurses adherence to hand hygiene guidelines: a cluster randomised trial.International journal of nursing studies,50(4), pp.464-474. Kelckova, S., Skodova, Z. and Straka, S., 2012. Effectiveness of hand hygiene education in a basic nursing school curricula.Public Health Nursing,29(2), pp.152-159. Kirkland, K.B., Homa, K.A., Lasky, R.A., Ptak, J.A., Taylor, E.A. and 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, pp.qhc-2012. Loveday, H.P., Wilson, J., Pratt, R.J., Golsorkhi, M., Tingle, A., Bak, A., Browne, J., Prieto, J. and Wilcox, M., 2014. epic3: national evidence-based guidelines for preventing healthcare-associated infections in NHS hospitals in England.Journal of Hospital Infection,86, pp.S1-S70. Mashoto, K.O., Mubyazi, G.M., Mohamed, H. and Malebo, H.M., 2013. Self-reported occupational exposure to HIV and factors influencing its management practice: a study of healthcare workers in Tumbi and Dodoma Hospitals, Tanzania.BMC health services research,13(1), p.276. Rai, H., Knighton, S., Zabarsky, T.F. and Donskey, C.J., 2017. A randomized trial to determine the impact of a 5 moments for patient hand hygiene educational intervention on patient hand hygiene.American journal of infection control,45(5), pp.551-553. Rosenthal, V.D., Richtmann, R., Singh, S., Apisarnthanarak, A., Kbler, A., Viet-Hung, N., Ramrez-Wong, F.M., Portillo-Gallo, J.H., Toscani, J., Gikas, A. and Dueas, L., 2013. Surgical site infections, International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 30 countries, 20052010.Infection Control Hospital Epidemiology,34(6), pp.597-604. Simmons, S., Morgan, M., Hopkins, T., Helsabeck, K., Stachowiak, J. and Stibich, M., 2013. Impact of a multi-hospital intervention utilising screening, hand hygiene education and pulsed xenon ultraviolet (PX-UV) on the rate of hospital associated meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection.Journal of Infection Prevention,14(5), pp.172-174. Stone, S.P., Fuller, C., Savage, J., Cookson, B., Hayward, A., Cooper, B., Duckworth, G., Michie, S., Murray, M., Jeanes, A. and Roberts, J., 2012. Evaluation of the national Cleanyourhands campaign to reduce Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile infection in hospitals in England and Wales by improved hand hygiene: four year, prospective, ecological, interrupted time series study.Bmj,344, p.e3005. Tacconelli, E., Cataldo, M.A., Dancer, S.J., Angelis, G., Falcone, M., Frank, U., Kahlmeter, G., Pan, A., Petrosillo, N., Rodrguez?Bao, J. and Singh, N., 2014. ESCMID guidelines for the management of the infection control measures to reduce transmission of multidrug?resistant Gram?negative bacteria in hospitalized patients.Clinical Microbiology and Infection,20(s1), pp.1-55. Warren?Gash, C., Fragaszy, E. and Hayward, A.C., 2013. Hand hygiene to reduce community transmission of influenza and acute respiratory tract infection: a systematic review.Influenza and other respiratory viruses,7(5), pp.738-749.