The primary goal of global infection control is to eliminate and prevent disease occurrence in hospital environments. Through this program, health care staffs are encouraged to embrace preventative disease strategies such as hygiene through hand washing, sterilization, and vaccination. They are also required to monitor the patients to diagnose an outbreak and report it for proper treatment. Health care settings are more prone to infections, thus the need for global disease and control strategies that are crucial in preventing and ceasing their recurrence.
All hospitals are faced with challenges related to health care-associated infections (HAIs), which require amicable preventative strategies to control their occurrence. Evidently, the CDC report has indicated that each year nursing homes report at least 3 million cases of HAIs, which often lead to death or disabilities (Garett, 2016). The infections are mostly transmitted through open wounds, chest problems, and other body fluids, where they eventually become resistant to the standard antibiotics (Mercola, 2014). On the other hand, inappropriate use of antibiotics, risky diagnostic procedures, immunity deficiency, and inadequate adherence to provided precautions further propagate the continuity of HAIs.
These infections result in deaths, economic burdens to the affected, increased antimicrobial resistance (AMR), disability, long hospital admissions, and international responsibilities due to inadequate cessation strategies (Parian, 2016). However, maintaining a clean hospital environment, hand washing, use of protective equipment, proper disposal of sharp objects, and adequate training on proper precautions during treatment procedures, hospitals often report reduced cases of HAIs (Schellack et al., 2016). For instance, the efficacy of the global infection control was seen in 2009 when the SAVE LIVES campaign was launched, and until 2015, Australia alone has seen more that 80% of its hospitals comply with this global ideology (Allegranzi, 2016). In essence, infections are transmitted through various unavoidable channels, complicating the lives of the affected. However, with proper adherence to the laid down precautions, the lingering infections in the hospital setup can be significantly reduced.
References
Allegranzi, Benedetta. (2016). Healthcare without avoidable infections. World Health Organization, Pp. 1-16.
Garrett, H. (2016). Impacts of healthcare-associated infections in post-acute and long-term care settings: Safe healthcare blog. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at https://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/impact-of-healthcare-associated-infections-in-post-acute-care-settings/. Accessed December 16, 2016.
Mercola, J. (2014). One in 25 patients end up with hospital-acquired infections, CDC warns. Mercola.com Take Control of Your Health Since 1997. Available at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/09/hospital-acquired-infections.aspx. Accessed December 16, 2016.
Parian, Cade. (2016). Poor infection control at hospital poses serious risks to patient safety. The Right Patient. Available at: http://www.rightpatient.com/blog/hospital-infections-serious-risk/. Accessed December 16, 2016.
Shellack, N, Ismail, H, & Babarinde, O. (2016). Revisiting the principles of infection control. Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences. 83(6), pp. 33-38.