Some of the most common infections acquired include but not limited to respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia, flu and cough, skin infection, conditions that affect the gastrointestinal tract and tropical disease. In this discussion, we are going to look at the causes of such infections, their transmission and preventive measures employed in hospital setting to overcome them.
THE ORIGIN OF NOSOCOMIAL INFECTIONS: Emergency of hospital acquired infections can depend on three major factors as described below depending on the possible origin of infections;
b) Patient related issues: Although the health worker contributes a lot towards emergency of hospital acquired infections, the biggest percentage of root causes come from the patients themselves. Some of the patient related issue that you don't want to under look include misuse of hospital facilities and contamination of hospital linen, fomites and aiding instruments. This superimposed by ignorance about disinfection, sterilization and proper handling of medical material in the hospital settings is the leading cause of transmission of the most common infectious agents responsible for hospital acquired infections.
a) Health worker related issues: Some of the causes of hospital acquired infections will be related to health workers and the health setting it's self. First, when patients come to the health facility, they should be oriented about the goings and makeup of that specific clinical setting. This is to ensure that any medical procedure is done correctly and any medical waste is disposed off the right way. Sometimes this does not happen and you find the patients are doing things according to their own understanding and confusion, on the expense of health workers and administrators failure to orient them. A good example of this is the improper disposal of medical waste that maybe very infectious in bins and areas where they are hazardous to the hospital population. This can lead transmission of infections not only to patients but also to hospital waste handlers.
The other way health workers are responsible for hospital acquired infections is via negligence and poor medical practices. This is uncommon but we can not forget to talk about it. It should be noted that before performing any invasive procedure on the patient, safety precautions must be put in place. These include protective gears to the patient and or the medical work especially disinfecting and use of sterile equipment. Once this is not done, the origin of blood indwelling microbes will not be preventable and one of the most common nosocomial infection in that respect will be sepsis.
Although the fear and anxiety related to illness can barely be eliminated, the patient should have some feeling of comfort for the period they are supposed to stay with in the facility and utilize the available resources with no fear.
c) Environmental issues: The nearby environment also plays a role in development of hospital acquired infections. First, the health facility is the collection of many patients with different illnesses and therefore anyone admitted there is exposed. With inevitable human interactions, diseases will easily be able to get access into the nearby population.
The other environmental issue that may play a role in development of hospital acquired infections is presence of disease-carrying vectors.
PREVENTION OF NOSOCOMIAL INFECTIONS: Some of the ways we can prevent nosocomial infections are universal and they rotate on good hygiene and proper practicing methods for health workers. Now with the reinforcement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) following the COVID 19 pandemic, hospital acquired infections can even be prevented more and more.
CONCLUSION: Hospital acquire infections can as well be contacted from our homes and communities but the difference here is that, exposure in the hospital settings is as good as in prisons, armed forces barracks, and any other long term stationed gathering.
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