bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and Surgical Site Infection (SSI)
I am a nurse at a Medical-Surgical unit in a community hospital in my State. I noticed that the number of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI’s) has been rising for patients over the age of 35 who are undergoing or awaiting surgery. The most common infections include bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and Surgical Site Infection (SSI). The exact causes of these infections cannot be established, but the most common explanation is either negligence of nurses or surgical errors.
Intervention and Quality initiative
According to CDC prevention guidelines, the most appropriate intervention would be prevention toolkits during medical procedures and the development of an early detection system. These initiatives are highly likely to help in recognizing infected individuals and enhance the formulation of mechanisms to avoid further spread. CDC quality initiative proposes the use of concurrent practice developments called bundles. The bundle for SSI includes administering antimicrobial prophylaxis, non-removal of hair at the operative skin, skin prep, maintenance of immediate postoperative normothermia, OR traffic, surgical wound dressing, blood glucose control, during the immediate postoperative period. For CLABSI, hand hygiene, optimal catheter choice, maximal barrier precautions, and review and removal of unnecessary lines are recommended procedures (Eluri, 2016). These procedures and actions are, therefore, particular for the different forms of HAI’s; hence specificity is recommended for nurses.
Educational need or Collaborative inter-professional team project can be observed.
Background education is needed for the nurses to help them comprehend the standards of operations as well as the metrics to be used in determining patient changes and responses to the intervention. Additionally, the nurses will need training on the different prevention bundles as outlined by the CDC. Conversely, professional personnel from the CDC may be consulted regarding the feasibility of the intervention procedures. On the other hand, a medical practitioner from a community health facility that has implemented these sets of interventions before could be consulted to affirm the productiveness and efficiency of the process.
Effect of the problem
Continuously rising infection rates in the health facility translate to a lengthened patient admission period and the need for double medical care. Therefore, this problem affects the patients, the nurses, and the health facility programs as well. Besides, increased infections expose physicians and surgeons to risks of job loss due to possible negligence cases or health malpractices.
Significance of the Topic and its implications on nursing practice
Hospital Associated Infections are a major cause of illnesses and deaths in the United States and worldwide. According to reports by the CDC, 4% of American patients suffer from HAI’s, and half of them die from the associated effects (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2019). Besides highly contributing to morbidity and mortality rates, HAI’s inform the increase in healthcare costs as well (Hessels et al., 2016). These infections, therefore, have major implications on nurses, including the fact that nurses have to acquire the knowledge of the appropriate preventive measures. They also have to upgrade their caution levels during their practice. Nurses are obliged to have the appropriate knowledge for prevention and treatment for HAI’s, which translates to extra work and responsibility.
Proposed solution and how it will affect nursing practice
The two recommended solutions are the adoption of preventive measures to reduce infection rates and regular patient-assessment. These measures are following the BSI bundles mentioned above. The proposed solutions will affect nursing practice as nurses will have to be trained and educated on barrier precautions and other processes. Similarly, this has a financial impact on the health facility as training resources and costs are factors that cannot be disregarded (Grota et al., 2020). However, when prevention is assimilated into the practice, the changes are likely to significantly reduce infection rates, thereby reducing nursing workload in the long-run.