Nursing Care Issue: Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI)
Despite the emphasis on quality in nursing and the importance of meeting sanitation norms, the problem of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) remains a source of concern for numerous healthcare facilities. Therefore, strategies for managing the specified issue must be designed. During my practice at a local hospital, I noticed a significant number of HAI-related cases that led to a noticeable aggravation in patients’ condition. The problem of HAI among inpatients appears to be internal since the existing standards for managing nosocomial diseases have been established well by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). Therefore, the need to reconsider the current strategies for managing and preventing HAI has to be recognized.
Desired Outcome: Preventing the instances of HAI
It is believed that the application of a patient-centered approach coupled with the redesign of the current guidelines and monitoring standards will affect the issue directly. Introducing clear uniform instructions that all nurses and other healthcare staff members can follow, as well as improving the current sanitation levels in wards, should be deemed as the first step toward addressing the problem of HAI in the hospital environment.
Details of the Issue
The phenomenon of HAI, also known as nosocomial diseases, is quite simple and very common in a range of healthcare settings. The current definition of HAI states that the subject matter includes any infection that is acquired during a patient’s stay in a hospital which is an admittedly broad notion (Kirtil & Akyuz, 2018). Although the severity of HAI varies from mild to acute, with the tendency toward milder health issues, HAI may involve the instances of pneumonia or other diseases that may turn out lethal for patients (Kirtil & Akyuz, 2018). Therefore, it is critical to create a strategy that will allow avoiding the specified problem.
At present, it is recommended to prevent the incidences of HAI from taking place in the selected setting by introducing clear and concise guidelines for nurses regarding proper sanitation, particularly, before performing the procedures such as intravenous catheterizations, surgical interventions, urinary catheterizations, ventilation, and similar issues. Ensuring awareness concerning the application of proper strategies among nurses is not enough; in addition to the promotion of knowledge acquisition, a nurse administrator should change the current nursing philosophy and make it more patient-oriented. Thus, nurses will recognize the need to follow the updated guidelines closely.
Reason Issue Selected
The rationale for choosing the problem of HAI concerns the need to reduce the length of stay among inpatients and improve the recovery process. Statistics shows that the levels of HAI development in hospitals have been growing exponentially (Kirtil & Akyuz, 2018). Specifically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018) states that every day, one in 31 healthcare facilities globally faces at least one instance of HAI. Thus, the problem has been growing out of proportion, affecting more people as it develops. An analysis of the subject matter and the identification of the factors that enhance its impact on inpatients will lead to the discovery of strategies that may help to avoid it.
Therefore, discussing the problem of HAI in the hospital setting is absolutely necessary for the management of patients’ needs worldwide. The effects that HAI have on the well-being of patients is truly devastating; therefore, elaborate nursing strategies for improving current instructions for managing HAI will have to be introduced. Educating nurses and updating the existing guidelines for addressing sanitation and hygiene-related issues should be seen as the main step toward reducing HAI rates in the hospital environment.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). HAI data. Web.
Kirtil, I., & Akyuz, N. (2018). Precautions taken by nurses about the prevention of hospital-acquired infections in intensive care units. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 34(2), 399-404. Web.