Nosocomial Infections

• Nosocomial infection is the focus.
• Prepared by Ma. Rosario M. Quejado, RMT, EdD.

Categories of Infection

• Hospital-acquired infections are also known as nosocomial infections.
• Community-acquired infections exist as well.

Nosocomial Infections

• Those acquired within the hospital or other healthcare facilities.
• All other hospital-associated infections erupt within 14 days of hospital discharge.

Iatrogenic Infections

• Physician-induced infection.
• Infections result from medical or surgical treatment.
• Infections are caused by surgeons, physicians, or other healthcare personnel.

Community-Acquired Infections

• Infections acquired outside health care facilities.
• Infections present or incubating at the time of hospital admission.

Common Nosocomial Infections

• UTI
• Post-surgical wound infection
• Lower respiratory tract infection
• Bloodstream infection
• Gastrointestinal diseases

High-Risk Patients

• Elderly patients
• Women in labor and delivery
• Premature and newborns
• Surgical/Burn patients
• Diabetic/ cancer patients
• Patients receiving treatment with steroids, anticancer drugs, anti-lymphocyte serum, and radiation
• Patients that are paralyzed, undergoing renal dialysis, and catheterization
• Immunosuppressed patients

Factors Contributing to Nosocomial Infection

• An increasing number of drug-resistant pathogens.
• Failure of health care personnel to follow infection control guidelines.
• An increase in the number of immunocompromised patients.

Other Factors

• Overcrowding of hospitals.
• Shortages of staff.
• Lengthy, more complicated types of surgery.
• Increase use of less-highly trained health care workers.

Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance

• Prevent infection
  • Vaccine
  • Getting catheters out
• Diagnose and treat infection effectively
  • Target the pathogen
  • Access the experts
• Use antimicrobials wisely
  • Practice anti-microbial control
  • Use local data
  • Treat infection, not contamination
  • Treat infection, not colonization
  • Know when to say no to vancomycin
  • Stop antimicrobial treatment
• Prevent transmission
  • Isolate the pathogen
  • Break the chain of contagion

Infection Control

• Measures taken to prevent infection in healthcare settings.
• Actions include eliminating or containing reservoirs of infection.
• Interruption of pathogen transmission and protection of persons (patients, employees, and visitors) are vital.

Two Types of Asepsis

• Medical Asepsis (clean technique)
• Surgical Asepsis (surgical technique)

Medical Asepsis

• Procedures and techniques to reduce the number and transmission of pathogens
• Includes all precautionary measures to prevent direct transfer of pathogens through the air, on instruments, bedding, and other inanimate objects.
• Includes frequent hand washing, personal grooming, proper cleaning of supplies, disinfection, proper disposal of needles, contaminated materials, and infectious waste, and sterilization.
• Goal: exclude pathogens.

Surgical Asepsis

• Includes practices used to render and keep objects and areas sterile.
• Practiced in operating rooms, labor and delivery areas, certain areas in health laboratories, and at patients' bedside.
• Includes scrubbing hands and fingernails before entering the operating room, using sterile gloves, masks, gowns, and shoe covers; using sterile solutions and dressings, using sterile drapes, creating a sterile field, and using heat-sterilized surgical instruments.
• Goal: exclude all microorganisms.