Infection acquired during Health Care delivery is a major problem in the Global Health System. Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), also called “Nosocomial Infections” are defined as infections which are not present or not incubating during the hospital admission and are acquired during the hospital stay. Etiological and epidemiological characteristics of Hospital-acquired infections show variation among different countries across the world. As per WHO data 1 in 10 patients acquired an infection while receiving care. Up to 30% of the surgical patient acquired a post-operative infection and up to 51% develop antibiotic resistance. Infections acquired during service delivery are among the major cause of mortality and increased morbidity among the hospitalized patients.
Epidemiology
Belgium
In Belgium the prevalence of nosocomial infections is about 6.2%. Annually about 125,500 patients become infected by a nosocomial infection, resulting in almost 3000 deaths.
France
Nosocomial infections are estimated to make patients stay in the hospital four to five additional days. Around 2004–2005, about 9,000 people died each year with a nosocomial infection.
Finland
Rates were estimated at 8.5% of patients in 2005.
Italy
Since 2000, estimates show about a 6.7% infection rate, i.e. between 450,000 and 700,000 patients, which caused between 4,500 and 7,000 deaths.
Switzerland
Estimates range between 2 and 14%. A national survey gave a rate of 7.2% in 2004.
United Kingdom
In 2012 the Health Protection Agency reported the prevalence rate of hospital-acquired infection. in England was 6.4% in 2011, against a rate of 8.2% in 2006. with respiratory tract, urinary tract and surgical site infections the most common types of infections reported.
United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated roughly 1.7 million hospital-associated infections, from all types of bacteria combined, cause or contribute to 99,000 deaths each year.
(Source – Wikipedia)
The burden of hospital acquired infection is several fold higher in India as compared to the developed countries.
A study says in 20 cities of India during last 10 years, 236,700 ICU patients data were collected for 970,713 bed-days. Pooled device-associated healthcare-associated infection rates for adult and paediatric ICUs were 5.1 central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs)/1,000 central line-days, 9.4 cases of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAPs)/1,000 mechanical ventilator-days, and 2.1 catheter-associated urinary tract infections/1,000 urinary catheter-days.
(Source – Express Healthcare)
Hospital acquired infection has a direct impact on the quality of patient care. The following are significant factors contributing to Hospital acquired infection in a Healthcare facility –
- Non availability of infection prevention and control policy.
- Non-compliance to infection control practices.
- Lack of HAI surveillance and timely feedback of results
- Irrational use of antibiotics
- Multi drug resistance (MDR) organism.
The prevalence of Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) has been intensified due to non-availability of trained staff in infection control. Consequently, staff trained in infection prevention and control practices is a-high demand category in Healthcare Industry. With this it is important to mention that an effective infection prevention and control program could lead to reduction in HAI to as low as 30%. Most importantly this would save patient lives.
Infection control nurse is a Registered Nurse (RN) who implements infection prevention and control program in Healthcare Facility along with infection control team. The infection control team is responsible for setting priorities, applying evidence-based practices and advising Hospital administrators on issues relating to infection prevention and control. Infection control nurse acts as a watchdog to adhere with standard infection control and transmission-based precautions to prevent further spread of HAIs and resistant organisms.
An infection control nurse is a mandatory requirement of NABH accreditation. According to the latest NABH standards one certified Infection Control Nurse is required for 250 beds in a hospital. Also majority corporate hospitals are going in for JCI accreditation. Hence, feel a strong need of certified Infection Control Nurse. With this one can infer on escalating demand for Infection Control Nurse in the entire healthcare industry – Be it a Nursing Home, Secondary care and Tertiary care or a corporate hospital.