Are there days that you are so busy that cleaning the point-of-care testing (POCT) device or glucose meter between patients is your last priority? Honestly, do you just forget to clean the device after each use? Many are probably guilty of this behavior. This behavior must change because it places our patients at risk of acquiring a hospital inquired infection/ virus. Astion (2013) claims that many times busy or improperly untrained healthcare workers may overlook some basic sanitary practices when using point-of-care testing devices and this leads to contaminated devices which causes nosocomial/hospital acquired infections. Currently, I am employed on a busy, high acuity medical-surgical floor. We provide care for many patients that …show more content…
So many patients were introduced to the HBV due to the carelessness of the staff. This could have been prevented with proper sanitation of the point of care testing devices. This is an eye opener for me. I noticed the facilities that had outbreaks stopped sharing glucometers and provided each resident with their own glucometer. I am sure this is more expensive than just providing glucometers for the facility to share with the residents. I also noticed that staff education on infection prevention was increased. Infection control measures should have already been in place. Their approach was successful because there were no further reports of HBV outbreaks at their …show more content…
My plan is to give an educational in-service about the importance of cleaning the devices. I plan to go over the facility’s policy and make reminders for the unit to disinfect the POCT devices after each use. I plan to demonstrate individually to staff on how to clean the POCT devices per policy. In doing so, I will continue to discuss the issue with my manager and continue to monitor to see if devices are being cleaned after each use. The plan is to make this a team approach to keep the patients safe. I believe that educating staff will help to improve the staff’s awareness of the problem and decrease the risk of the patients acquiring a hospital acquired infection related to using unsanitary POCT devices. Early intervention can begin to correct the problem. Per Guizhen (2016), an Australian hospital began a hospital wide project to improve strategies to prevent HAIs. The project motivated staff to get involved and focused on improving hand hygiene compliance, and ensuring the facility remains clean. In doing so, education was provided to staff about HAI’s and monitored compliance of all staff was ongoing. The project achieved success in reducing and preventing HAIs (Guizhen,
Following the proper guidelines for reducing the risk of transmission of TSEs in a clinical setting, the risk has been greatly reduced. As mentioned before no iatrogenic transmission from a medical instrument has been recorded since 1976 since following the standard guidelines. In an experiment by Amin et al., they examined the risk of transmission of vCJD via contact tonometry. They outlined that transmission could be further reduced by using larger volumes of washes for extended periods of time and also adding wiping between washes (16). This could help in the future to completely eradicate TSE transmission completely by increasing sterilisation methods. Proper training on all aspects of transmission of TSEs through medical equipment and proper sterilisation methods should be updated just to keep staff up to date to prevent the risks of TSEs transmission.
There are some simple blood tests (secondary prevention) such as Hepatitis B Surface Antigen, and (HBSAG), and Hepatitis B Surface Antibody (HBSAB) to find out if you have been infected. There is a safe and effective vaccine such as vaccine interferon alpha, recommended for newborns, infants, and teens, provides immunity for at least five years. In addition to vaccination (primary prevention), there are other simple ways to stop the spread of Hepatitis B. These are a few examples: first avoid direct contact with blood and bodily fluids, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after any potential exposure to blood. You also need to discard soiled items carefully into bags, avoid sharing items such as razors, nail clippers, toothbrushes, and earrings or body rings. In my opinion the most important prevention is to practice safe sex, and making sure new or sterile...
“The CDC is the primary developer of national infection control and prevention guidelines, often in collaboration with its Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, which is responsible for research and dissemination of the latest information for preventing disease transmission” (Griffis, 2013, p. 175). Infection control will continue to be a topic of discussion as long as germ transmission is still happening. Among these studies is the concern the frequent nonadherence to contact precautions is a huge issue that many studies are still very concerned about (Jessee & Mion, 2013, p. 966). The writer is also concerned with the blatant disregard for hand hygiene that appears to be happening in the medical field. What about what is best for the patient. Do the people that do not use proper hand hygiene not understand how important it
Scott, II, R. D. (2009). The direct medical costs of healthcare-associated infections in U.S. hospitals and the benefits of prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/hai/pdfs/hai/scott_costpaper.pdf
Direct legal issues that result in inadequate infection-control practices, medical costs of healthcare-associated infections and the amount of deaths that have occurred due to these preventable infections are the main targeted issues that will focus on this project. Reporting requirements of HAIs vary from state to state, provider, facility, frequency, and type of infection. Due to this, there is inconsistency in the methods of data collected, risk management, data validation, and the requirement or reporting HAIs. The legal requirements and statutes that mandate disclosure of errors need to be addressed in order to reduce and prevent HAIs. In addition, the discussion of legal duties and responsibilities of the care providers, facilities and patients are discussed.
The purpose of his article was to find a better way to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) and explain what could be done to make healthcare facilities safer. The main problem that Cole presented was a combination of crowded hospitals that are understaffed with bed management problems and inadequate isolation facilities, which should not be happening in this day and age (Cole, 2011). He explained the “safety culture properties” (Cole, 2011) that are associated with preventing infection in healthcare; these include justness, leadership, teamwork, evidence based practice, communication, patient centeredness, and learning. If a healthcare facility is not honest about their work and does not work together, the patient is much more likely to get injured or sick while in the
This literature review will analyze and critically explore four studies that have been conducted on hand hygiene compliance rates by Healthcare workers (HCWs). Firstly, it will look at compliance rates for HCWs in the intensive care units (ICU) and then explore the different factors that contribute to low hand hygiene compliance. Hospital Acquired infections (HAI) or Nosocomial Infections appear worldwide, affecting both developed and poor countries. HAIs represent a major source of morbidity and mortality, especially for patients in the ICU (Hugonnet, Perneger, & Pittet, 2002). Hand hygiene can be defined as any method that destroys or removes microorganisms on hands (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). According to the World Health Organization (2002), a HAI can be defined as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other health care facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. The hands of HCWs transmit majority of the endemic infections. As
Safety is focused on reducing the chance of harm to staff and patients. The 2016 National Patient Safety Goals for Hospitals includes criteria such as using two forms of identification when caring for a patient to ensure the right patient is being treated, proper hand washing techniques to prevent nosocomial infections and reporting critical information promptly (Joint Commission, 2015). It is important that nurses follow standards and protocols intending to patients to decrease adverse
“Failure to attend to hand hygiene has serious consequences: it has a negative effect on patient safety and the quality of patients’ lives, as well as on their confidence in healthcare delivery. However, the prevalence of hand hygiene omission is still high” (Canadian Disease Control, 2016 p 1). Washing hands before and after patient contact seems like a simple solution to prevent the spread of bacteria between patients. But it is not as simple as it seems.According to new CDC data, “approximately one in 25 patients acquires a health care-associated infection during their hospital care, adding up to about 722,000 infections a year. Of these, 75,000 patients die from their infections ( CDC, 2016 p 1).” Leaving a finacial burden on Canada’s health care
The systematic review; Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care, conducted by the Cochrane Collaboration investigated inventions to improve hand hygiene compliance within patient care. The review included 2 original studies with an additional two new studies (Gould & Moralejo et al., 2010). Throughout the review it was affirmed that among hand hygiene is an indispensable method in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections (HAI), the compliance among nurses’ is inadequate. Nurses are identified within the public as dependable and trustworthy in a time of vulnerability due to their specialised education and skills (Hughes, 2008). Thus, it is imperative that evidence based practice is cond...
Patient safety must be the first priority in the health care system, and it is widely accepta-ble that unnecessary harm to a patient must be controlled.Two million babies and mother die due to preventable medical errors annually worldwide due to pregnancy related complications and there is worldwide increase in nosocomial infections, which is almost equal to 5-10% of total admissions occurring in the hospitals. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Total 1.4 million patients are victims of hospital-acquired infection. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Unsafe infection practice leads to 1.3 million death word wide and loss of 26 millions of life while ad-verse drug events are increasing in health care and 10% of total admitted patients are facing ad-verse drug events. (WHO Patient Safety Re...
(2014) shed light on two key components for infection control, which includes protecting patients from acquiring infections and protecting health care workers from becoming infected (Curchoe et al., 2014). The techniques that are used to protect patients also provide protection for nurses and other health care workers alike. In order to prevent the spread of infections, it is important for health care workers to be meticulous and attentive when providing care to already vulnerable patients (Curchoe et al., 2014). If a health care worker is aware they may contaminate the surroundings of a patient, they must properly clean, disinfect, and sterilize any contaminated objects in order to reduce or eliminate microorganisms (Curchoe et al., 2014). It is also ideal to change gloves after contact with contaminated secretions and before leaving a patient’s room (Curchoe, 2014). Research suggests that due to standard precaution, gloves must be worn as a single-use item for each invasive procedure, contact with sterile sites, and non-intact skin or mucous membranes (Curchoe et al., 2014). Hence, it is critical that health care workers change gloves during any activity that has been assessed as carrying a risk of exposure to body substances, secretions, excretions, and blood (Curchoe et al.,
“Researchers in London estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented” (“Hygiene Fast Facts”, 2013, p. 1). Hands are the number one mode of transmission of pathogens. Hands are also vital in patient interaction, and therefore should be kept clean to protect the safety of patients and the person caring for the patient. Hand hygiene is imperative to professional nursing practice because it prevents the spread of pathogens, decreases chances of hospital-acquired infections, and promotes patient safety. There is a substantial amount of evidence that shows why hand hygiene is important in healthcare
...s and hoses, control buttons, switches, hand pieces, and X-ray units (Collins). After every patient’s visit, the operatory is to be sterilized and disinfected. All areas that were that were not covered with a barrier, or if the barrier was compromised, must be wiped down with surface disinfectants similarly used in hospitals. OSHA requires disinfectants to be potent enough to fight against HIV and HBV infections (Collins). If there is any blood present on a surface, tuberculocidal type disinfectant should be utilized.
Avoiding infection or, at least, breaking the chain of transmission is vital in any setting, but more so in healthcare environments where infections and vulnerable hosts are moving under the same roof. What needs to be done, then?