Healthcare-associates Infections (HAIs) are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving healthcare treatment for other conditions and can be devastating or even deadly ("CDC - HAIs the Burden - HAI", 2013). An HAI was defined as a localized or systemic condition that (1) results from an adverse reaction to the pres¬ence of an infectious agent(s) or its toxin(s), (2) that occurs during a hospital admission, (3) for which there is no evidence the infection was present or incubating at admission, and (4) meets body site-specific criteria (Klevens et al., 2007, p.2). Due to the lack of federal and state laws that require reporting and infection prevention laws of HAIs, there continues to be an increase in deaths, as well as healthcare and legal costs.
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.
Since there is no federal law that requires hospitals to report HAI deaths, much of the data in this report is based on the states that have statutes in place that require them to do so. It was estimat...
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...U of selected provisions in healthcare-associated infection laws. (2012). Retrieved from Public Health Law Program at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/phlp/docs/HAI%20Menu-508.PDF
Pyrek, K. M. (2009, December 18). SPOTLIGHT ON PREVENTION: HAI-Related Litigation: What Infection Preventionists Need to Know. Retrieved December 30, 2013, from http://hospitalacquiredinfections.blogspot.com/2010/01/hai-related-litigation-what-infection.html?m=1
Reagan, J. (n.d.). State public reporting laws of healthcare-associated infections. Retrieved from Public Health Law website: https://www.networkforphl.org/_asset/r77mq0/HAI-Laws-PPT-FINAL.pdf
Scott II, D. R. (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
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported in 1999 that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in the United States due to a preventable medical error. A report written by the National Quality Forum (NQF) found that over a decade after the IOM report the prevalence of medical errors remains very high (2010). In fact a study done by the Hearst Corporation found that the number of deaths due to medical error and post surgical infections has increased since the IOM first highlighted the problem and recommended actions to reduce the number of events (Dyess, 2009).
Showalter, J. S. (2007). Southwick’s the law of hospital & health care administration, 5th ed.
Catheter Acquired Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) has become to be classified as one among the leading infections which most individuals end up being susceptible to acquire while at the hospital. Healthcare-associated or acquired infections (HAIs) are a significant cause of illness, death, and more often than not, have resulted to cost the tax payers potentially high medical expenses in most health care settings. ("Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality," para. 1) Due to this, 1 out of every 20 patients will end up with CAUTI within the US hospitals and this has caused Agency for healthcare research and quality (AHRQ) to embark on nationwide plans to help in the eradication and control of CAUTI incidences. ("Agency
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 49(3), 438-443. Doi:10.1086/600391. See full address and map. Medicare.gov/Hospital Compare - The Official U.S. Government Site for Medicare (n.d).
Odom-Forren, J., & Hahn, E. J. (2006, February). Mandatory reporting of health care-associated infections: Kingdon’s multiple streams approach. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 7(1), 64-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1527154406286203
“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
HAV is known to be an infectious disease that usually occurs in children and young adults .The disease is usually transmitted from person to person through contaminated food, liquids or oral fecal route. An example would be when someone is carrying the virus and doesn’t wash their hands after using the restroom and then puts food in their mouth. HAV is most common in developing countries because of the living conditions and inadequate water, poor sewage facilities and sanitary conditions. The highest HAV levels in the world are from India,” Earlier reports suggest that India is hyperendemic for HAV infection2,4-6 with very high infection rates,” (Sowmyanarayanan). Most HAV are without severe complications, “Virus HAV infection rarely causes fulminant hepatic failure in people…,” (Vento,p.1) . The symptoms for HAV are high fever, nausea, vomiting and jaundice...
Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) are preventable and pose a threat to hospitals and patients; increasing the cost, nominally and physically, for both. Pneumonia makes up approximately 15% of all HAI and is the leading cause of nosocomial deaths. Pneumonia is most frequently caused by bacterial microorganisms reaching the lungs by way of aspiration, inhalation or the hematogenous spread of a primary infection. There are two categories of Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (HAP); Health-Care Associated Pneumonia (HCAP) and Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
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
...s and measurement to decrease healthcare- associated infections. American Journal Of Infection Control, pp. S19-S25. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2012.02.008.
Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency coordination task force with the help of government agencies. These government agencies are responsible for making health pol-icies regarding patient safety to which every HCO must follow (Schulman & Kim, 2000).
Secondary:Curtis, L. (2008). Prevention of hospital-acquired infections: review of non-pharmacological interventions. Journal of Hospital Infection, 69(3), 204-219. Revised 01/20
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
The existing or traditional approach to reporting potential public health problems is a manual process reliant on individuals within individual hospitals/medical facilities to identify such potential threats or issues. Physicians or laboratories within the hospital identify any potential health risks and then compile a report on the issue. The identification of the issue/risk is reliant on individual hospitals tracking the volume numbers of patients with similar symptoms. This report is than faxed or posted to the local public health authority. The public health authority, on receipt of the report, will phone the hospital in question for any additional information it requires before it is in a position to make any decisions or taken any relevant preventative measures.
...98,000 Americans die from these each year (Braunstein, 2012). With the treatment of holistic health care, the incidence rate of HAIs in hospitals can be decreased as well.