Support your response with a minimum of two peer-reviewed references.

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The health-care associated infections (HAIs), a major concern for health care organisations, cause mortality and morbidity as well increased healthcare costs. Health care organizations must implement various measures to prevent infection spread and ensure safe services. In this essay, we will discuss three possible measures health care providers can take to ensure safe services while preventing the spread of infection.

All health workers could be required to attend mandatory education on infection prevention by health care providers. The topics covered by education programs might include standard precautions (standard precautions), isolation precautions, hand hygiene and proper PPE use. Education interventions have been shown to improve infection prevention practices, resulting in a reduction of HAI rates (Haque, et. al. 2016; Saito, et. al. 2020). Education programs can also include regular competency assessments that ensure health care providers are properly trained and knowledgeable about infection prevention.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASPs) are another measure health care providers could take. The goal of ASPs is to optimize the use of antimicrobials in order to reduce antibiotic resistance and improve the outcomes of patients. The implementation of antimicrobial guidelines, feedback and prospective audit are all part of ASPs. Studies show that ASPs reduce the rate of HAIs and antibiotic resistance, as well as the amount of antibiotics prescribed (Pulcini et. al., 2018, World Health Organization, 2021).

Health care organizations can implement surveillance programs to monitor HAIs, and measure the success of their infection prevention efforts. These surveillance programs may include the collection of data on HAIs, using electronic health records to monitor infection rates and risks, and communicating HAI statistics to both internal and external stakeholders. The systematic review found HAI surveillance programs to be effective at reducing HAIs (Umscheid, et. al. 2011).

Health care organizations can implement a variety of measures that will help them deliver safe services to patients and prevent the spread of infection. Three measures could be added to the current practice: antimicrobial-stewardship programmes, surveillance programs and infection prevention education. The effectiveness of these measures has been proven to reduce the frequency of HAIs, and improve patient outcomes.

References:

Haque, M., Sartelli, M., McKimm, J., & Bakar, M. A. (2016). Health care-associated infections–an overview. Infections and drug resistance 9, 217.

Pulcini, C., Morel, C. M., Tacconelli, E., Beovic, B., de With, K., Goossens, H., … & Harbarth, S. (2018). It is urgent that funding and human resource estimates for antimicrobial stewardship team are provided. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 24(10): 1072-1077.

Saito, H., Inoue, M., Fujimoto, R., Sato, K., Yatsu, Y., & Sugama, J. (2020). Education intervention to improve hand hygiene amongst pediatric patients with hematology/oncology. American Journal of Infection Control. 48(5). 490-496.

Umscheid, C. A., Mitchell, M. D., Doshi, J. A., Agarwal, R., Williams, K., & Brennan, P. J. (2011). Estimating the proportion of healthcare-associated infections that are reasonably preventable and the related mortality and costs. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 32(2).