scholarly journals Prevention and control of health care-associated infections through improved hand hygiene

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Pittet ◽  
E Mathai ◽  
B Allegranzi ◽  
C Kilpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hand Hygiene ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Health Care Associated Infections ◽  
And Control

scholarly journals Pathology Laboratories and Infection Prevention and Control

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. I
Author(s):  
R Baral
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Hand Hygiene ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Infection Prevention ◽  
World Health ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
And Control

Laboratory health care workers are vulnerable to infection with the Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) while receiving, handling and disposing biological samples. Ideally the infrastructure of the lab should be according to the best practices like good ventilation, room pressure differential, lighting, space adequacy, hand hygiene facilities, personal protective equipments, biological safety cabinets etc. Disinfection of the environment, and specific precautions with sharps and microbial cultures should follow the protocols and policies of the Infection Prevention and Control Practices (IPAC). If Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Legionella pneumophila are expected, diagnostic tests should be performed in a bio-safety level 3 facilities (for agents which may cause serious or potentially lethal disease in healthy adults after inhalation). Laboratory access should be limited only to people working in it.Along with the advent of new technologies and advanced treatment we are now facing problems with the dreadful HAIs with Antimicrobial Resistant Organisms (AROs) which is taking a pandemic form. According to WHO, hundreds of millions of patients develop HAI every year worldwide and as many as 1.4 million occur each day in hospitals alone. The principal goals for hospital IPAC programs are to protect the patient, protect the health care worker (HCW), visitors, and other persons in the health environment, and to accomplish the previous goals in a cost-effective manner like hand hygiene, surveillance, training of the HCWs, initiating awareness programs and making Best Practices and Guidelines to be followed by everyone in the hospital.The initiation for the best practices in the Pathology Laboratories can be either Sporadic or Organizational. Sporadic initiation is when the laboratories make their own IPAC policies. It has been seen that in few centres these policies have been conceptualized but not materialized. Organizational initiation is much more effective since the best practices are the same for all hospitals and this helps in standardizing the policies. There are organizations which work in promoting IPAC through education, standards, and advocacy and consumer awareness. Examples of organizations working in this field are IPAC Canada, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) USA, Infection Prevention Society UK, Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control (APSIC), World Health Organization (WHO). In Nepal organizational initiation to address the issues of IPAC has been recently taken by Healthy Life Foundation Nepal (HELF Nepal) which is an organization with the mission to inform, promote and implement best practices of IPAC to prevent HAIs in the patients as well as the healthcare workers in all healthcare settings in Nepal.In Nepal awareness on IPAC in Pathology Laboratories can be brought about by initiating trainings, surveillance, regular CMEs and demonstration of techniques to the Lab personnel. Administration will have to be involved in initiating the program and maintaining it with administrative resources and financial support. Before it is too late we have to address the issues of HAIs, AROs and safety in our laboratories.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpn.v4i8.11603

Device‐associated health care‐associated infections: The effectiveness of a 3‐year prevention and control program in the Republic of Cyprus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stelios Iordanou ◽  
Elizabeth Papathanassoglou ◽  
Nicos Middleton ◽  
Lakis Palazis ◽  
Chrystalla Timiliotou‐Matsentidou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Control Program ◽  
Health Care Associated Infections ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Republic Of Cyprus ◽  
And Control

scholarly journals Infection Prevention and Control Measures at the Children Hospital Lahore: A My Child Matters Collaborative Project

2020 ◽  
pp. 1540-1545
Author(s):  
Mahwish Faizan ◽  
Miguela A. Caniza ◽  
Saadia Anwar ◽  
Rahat-ul-Ain Kashif ◽  
Rabia Saleem ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Hand Hygiene ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Infection Prevention ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Improvement Strategy ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
And Control

PURPOSE Infection prevention among children with cancer is a major challenge at Children Hospital Lahore (CHL), a public health care facility in Pakistan with 1,000 new pediatric cancer admissions annually. The objective has been to reduce infections through collaboration between CHL and the St Jude Children’s Hospital Global Infectious Disease program via a grant by the Sanofi Espoir foundation through the My Child Matters program. The aim of the current study was to describe the effect of the collaborative improvement strategy on existing infection prevention and control (IPC) standards at CHL. MATERIALS AND METHODS Our work was a prospective before-and-after study to improve IPC standards. We compared the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework and four modules of the St Jude modified Infection Control Assessment Tool (ICAT) scores over a 3-year period. Our strategy included creating a multidisciplinary team of pediatric oncologists, infectious disease physicians, nurses, a microbiologist, and a data manager; engaging in monthly online IPC mentoring sessions with St Jude Children’s Hospital Global Infectious Disease program and My Child Matters mentors; performing daily inpatient health care–associated infection surveillance rounds; and performing regular hand hygiene training and compliance audits. RESULTS Baseline needs assessment showed health care–associated infections identified by positive blood cultures as 8.7 infections per 1,000 patient-days. Deficient hand hygiene supplies, health education measures, and bed sharing of neutropenic patients were identified as major challenges. Our hand hygiene facility level, per WHO scores, increased from Inadequate to Intermediate/Consolidation by the end of the 3-year implementation (122 v 352 WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework scores). The sink:bed and hand sanitizer:bed ratios improved to 1:6 and 1:1, respectively. The ICAT general infection control module increased by 40% (45 v 78 ICAT scores) and hygiene compliance improved by 20%. CONCLUSION Implementing a collaborative improvement strategy improved IPC standards in our center, which can be easily replicated in other pediatric oncology centers in lower- and middle-income countries.

scholarly journals Prevention and control of health care–associated infections in Iran: A qualitative study to explore challenges and barriers

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1149-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atefeh Esfandiari ◽  
Arash Rashidian ◽  
Hossein Masoumi Asl ◽  
Abbas Rahimi Foroushani ◽  
Hedayat Salari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Health Care Associated Infections ◽  
And Control

Strengthening of occupational health promotion by the German Prevention Health Care Act

2019 ◽  
pp. 188-190
Author(s):  
Diana Hart
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Primary Prevention ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Occupational Health Promotion ◽  
And Control

All countries are faced with the problem of the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCD): implement prevention strategies eff ectively, keep up the momentum with long term benefi ts at the individual and the population level, at the same time tackling hea lth inequalities. Th e aff ordability of therapy and care including innovative therapies is going to be one of the key public health priorities in the years to come. Germany has taken in the prevention and control of NCDs. Germany’s health system has a long history of guaranteeing access to high-quality treatment through universal health care coverage. Th r ough their membership people are entitled to prevention and care services maintaining and restoring their health as well as long term follow-up. Like in many other countries general life expectancy has been increasing steadily in Germany. Currently, the average life expectancy is 83 and 79 years in women and men, respectively. Th e other side of the coin is that population aging is strongly associated with a growing burden of disease from NCDs. Already over 70 percent of all deaths in Germany are caused by four disease entities: cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. Th ese diseases all share four common risk factors: smoking, alcohol abuse, lack of physical activity and overweight. At the same time, more and more people become long term survivors of disease due to improved therapy and care. Th e German Government and public health decision makers are aware of the need for action and have responded by initiating and implementing a wide spectrum of activities. One instrument by strengthening primary prevention is the Prevention Health Care Act. Its overarching aim is to prevent NCDs before they can manifest themselves by strengthening primary prevention and health promotion in diff erent sett ings. One of the main emphasis of the Prevention Health Care Act is the occupational health promotion at the workplace.

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