PowerPoint presentation for IND's Biomedical Interventions class capstone project.

1. Hospital Acquired
Infections
Sarah Duffy

2. It is commonly thought that hospitals are better
off now than they were in past decades. While this
may be true, we are still learning about the
microorganisms that can spread and cause
widespread illnesses in medical centers. Infections
are still passed from doctor to patient and from
patient to patient paired with misused of
antibiotics, causing resistance that is more harmful to
the population in and out of the hospital than the
initial infection.

3. Reasons to be Concerned
• The increased number of hospital acquired
infections has generated a great amount of
attention in the past two decades
• Most of these infections are preventable
• Many HAIs have become resistant to
available antibiotics

4. "Nosocomial infections are a fact of life in healthcare
right now - as one infection may decline, a new infection
appears or there is an increase in the incidence of
another, speed is essential in identifying these
infections, and there are a host of tests out
there, targeting specific infections and offering fast
results.―
- Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information.

5. What is a Hospital Acquired Infections?
• A hospital acquired infection (HAI), or known in medical
literature as a nosocomial infection, is an infection that is
developed in a hospital and is acquired by a patient or
spread through the staff.
– Such infections include fungal and bacterial infections and are
contracted by patients because of their reduced resistance.

6. "Every year nearly two million hospital-acquired
infections claim roughly 100,000 lives and add
$45 billion in costs; that is as many lives and
dollars as taken by AIDS, breast cancer and
auto accidents combined
-Jeneen Interlandi, Hospital Acquired Infections: Beating
Back the Bug

7. Who Contracts HAIs?
• HAIs can be picked up by anyone who visits
a hospital
• Patients with a suppressed immune system
are most susceptible to hospital born
infections
– HAIs are most dangerous for intensive car
patients and those recovering from surgery
• Hospital staff may also contract infections

8. Transmission of Infections
• Infections can spread through the air and touch.
Healthy people can fend them off with mild illness but
someone with a compromised immune system or an
open wound would have a higher risk of prolonged
illness or even death.
• The two most common forms of transmission are
through the air and touching surfaces in the hospital.

9. Transmission Continued
Airborne
• Some infection germs
may be airborne and
transmitted by coughing
or sneezing.
• Infections can be spread
by patients
– Cough or sneeze germs to
another patient.
Touch
• Every surface in the hospital
can potentially carry house
infectious bacteria.
– Telephones
– Door knobs
– Catheters used in patients
– Bed linens
– Bathrooms
• Infections that are introduced
through tools and devices like
surgical instruments or
catheters.

10. This graph shows the primary sources of health-
acquired infections (HAI)

11. Most Common Infections
• Ventilator-associated
pneumonia
• Methicillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
• Clostridium difficile
• Tuberculosis
• Urinary tract infection
• Hospital-acquired
pneumonia
• Gastroenteritis
• Legionnaires' disease

12. Antibiotic Resistance
• Antibiotic resistant is, in
a way, a bigger issue
than hospitals acquired
infections.
• Antibiotic resistance
can be caused by a
number of things. The
biggest factor is
improper use of
antibiotics.
• Ineffective use of
disinfectants can also
allows the bacteria to
build up an immunity to
the disinfectant.

13. Gram-negative Bacteria
• Most bacteria are classified into two
groups— Gram-positive or Gram-negative —
depending which stain color they retain.
– Gram-positive will retain a purple dye, gram-
negative will retain a red or pink dye.
• Gram-negative bacteria is the cause of
infections like E. coli.

14. Bacteria can be classified as Gram-negative if it
retains a red or pink dye. If the bacteria retains a
purple dye, it is Gram-positive.

15. Gram-negative Bacteria and Drug Resistance
• Certain types of Gram-negative
bacteria have become
increasingly resistant to the
antibiotics available. Some
strains are now resistant to most
or all available treatments.
• Many Gram-negative bacterial
infections are transmitted
through cross-contamination
between people.
• Gram-negative infections like
Klebsiella, a bacteria that causes
pneumonia, urinary tract
infections, and bloodstream
infections, can enter the body in
a number of ways
– Urinary and intravenous
catheters
– Wounds
– ventilators

16. Gram-negative Bacteria Prevention
• With the increasing resistance to
antibiotics, Gram-negative infections have
become a major concern in
hospitals, nursing homes and other health
care facilities.
• One of the most important ways of
preventing the spread gram-negative
bacteria is simple sanitation techniques.

17. Statistics
• In the United States, the most common form
of infection is a urinary tract
infection, followed by surgical site
infection, bloodstream infection and
pneumonia.
• Annually, the cost to treat HAIs reached
close to $11 billion.

18. Statistics
• 70% of hospital-acquired infections are
resistant to at least one antibiotic
• 2007 study found that 85% of all invasive
MRSA infections were associated with
healthcare.

19. Current Prevention Procedures
• The current ways of preventing the spread of
infections in hospitals includes:
– Hand washing
– Gloves
– Gowns
– Intensive cleaning of all surfaces and
insturments.

20. Better ways of prevention
• A major contributing
factor to the
transmission of
diseases inside
hospitals is ineffective
sanitation.
• More conscious hand
washing, surface
cleaning, patient
interactions and wound
cleaning.

21. Cleaning in unnoticed places
• It is much easier to
clean large, wide
surfaces than small
buttons and switches.
• More attention to sites
like these could cut
down on bacteria
transferred by touch.

22. What more can be done?
• The proper use of
disinfectant sprays and
wipes
• Better and more
frequent hand washing
• Care use and
instruction on the
proper dosage of an
antibiotic for patients
• Find a universal
system for measuring
hospital cleanliness
• More attention to high
risk sites
• More invasive
inspections
– Visual inspections can
only see so much