How to Avoid Infection in a Hospital?
Hospitals, though places for cure and treatment, if not properly looked after are places of considerable risk due to infection at one’s stay in hospital. And people with the weaker immune system are more prone to be getting infected with those diseases. Therefore, hospitals adopt a proper regime and control system to check infection at hospital premises. Therefore, in hospital an Infection control program shall run properly and appropriate manner.
The objective of Hospital Infection Control Program should be to spread information, surveillance procedures, prevention and control of nonsocomial infections in the hospitals. Nosocomial infections affects approximately 40 million patients annually globally and their annual patient care cost goes to million of dollars annually. An organized infection control program involves following steps of health and cure.
- Organised surveillance and control activities under ablest supervision of expert professionals.
- An infection control practitioner for every big Health Facility in every city.
- A Trained Hospital Epidemiologist.
- Reporting of surgical wound infection rates and other infection to the respective surgeons and physicians.
The first and the most effective part to stop infection in hospital is the setting of the hospital. The administration of the hospital should also look at the condition of the hospital before admitting a patient. The hospital should be clean and organized and its employees ought to be well dressed and well kept. The next step to keep the hospital free from infection is using liquid cleansers well outside as well inside the every room in the hospital. Each and everything that comes into the contact with the patient should be cleaned up properly. The caretaker of the hospital must ensure that each and every staff of the hospital washes hand properly and follows hand washing rules.
Wearing gloves and gowns is the next rule of the thumb to remain infection free in hospital. A doctor or nurse before performing a task should wear gloves before hand. And in case there a scissor or any penetration has been used over body then gloves should be sterilized or latex gloves can be used for performing operations. Wearing a gown is only necessary when a patient is lying in isolation.
Cleanliness of instruments is also very important task for diagnosis as a physician should sterilize all his instruments properly. In case a health care staff is inserting a device like a urinary catheter or a tube into a patient than the area should be cleanup with an antiseptic like chlorhexidine soap to remove bacteria.
It is not only within hospitals but cleanliness of visitors is also of vital importance to avoid infection from the hospital. If a visitor is not well, he should not come near to patient as coughing and sneezing and a caretaker should also stop visitors from coming closer or near to the patient. And above all Handwashing is one of the most important procedures for preventing nosocomial infections. It is defined as a vigorous, brief rubbing together of all surfaces of lathered hands, followed by rinsing under a stream of water. Thus this way a hospital can be kept away cleaner from infections.
Leave a Comment