WHO reports, over 1.4 million people across the globe suffer from nosocomial or hospital-acquired infection (HAI). It account for over 2 million cases and 80,000 deaths a year.
The most common types of HAIs are bloodstream infection, pneumonia, urinary tract infection and surgical site infections.
Why people acquire HAIs?
HAIs are caused mainly due to lack of compliance with infection control guidelines, such as hand hygiene and usage of outdated technology.
Also, in India, adherence to structured practicing ways are irregular and hospital accreditation is not mandatory.
This situation is further aggravated by the fact that public hospitals receive insufficient funds, which results in low nurse-to-patient ratios. This proved to be directly connected to high HAI rates in ICUs.
What can be done to combat HAIs?
The first step will be to improve hygiene practices and implement standard operating procedures in all the process of a hospital.
Having one nurse for three beds in an ICU is an important risk factor. With limited resources, providing good service is getting severely hampered.
The excessive use of antibiotics increases resistance. Therefore, the approach must be to prevent infections and in the process, we can bring down the HAI rate together.
