Health Care Associated Infection Analysis

As the world continues to modernize and reach new plateaus of technological and engineering successes, our urban areas are developing. More and more people are being packed into the densely populated cities that are popping up over both already developed and still-developing countries. With the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and increases in contact with strangers met on the streets and in metro stations, the state of hygiene of a single individual is now more than ever having a direct impact on the collective well-being of a community. Discovering cheap and effective ways of constraining the transfer of infections, whether the mediums they travel be through physical contact, water, air, etc. is becoming important in our ever-growing
The ironic reality is that millions of patients and healthcare workers (to a lesser degree) around the world are in some way influenced by HCAI. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “HCAI results in prolonged hospital stays, long-term disability, increased resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobials, massive additional costs for health systems, high costs for patients and their family, and unnecessary deaths” (13). Multiple studies have been done outlining the legitimacy of the HCAI problem. An article published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2014 states, “…4.0% of inpatients in U.S. acute care hospitals had at least 1 health care–associated infection, yielding an estimate of 648,000 inpatients with a total of approximately 721,800 such infections in 2011” (4). Another 2011 WHO report titled Report on the Burden of Endemic Health Care–Associated Infection described data collected by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control concerning this issue, stating that 4,131,000 patients are affected every year by HCAI (12). Again, the validity of this problem cannot be stressed enough. Once this is understood, we may be able to proceed in discussing various ways of combating harmful bacteria originating from places traditionally thought to have been used in the battle against disease in the first
hospitals ranges from $28.4 to $33.8 billion” (8)! If copper-coating medical/hospital equipment turns out to be an effective way of reducing the rate of these infections, not only will it substantially better the state of our public hygiene, but it would save hospitals a ton of money in the long run, as well as patients who are forced to stay in hospitals longer than was initially intended because of any accidental contact with an HCAI. In 3rd world countries, this would be especially crucial in preventing unnecessary casualties from diseases that would otherwise be untreatable. The uses of antimicrobial copper don’t have to be limited to hospitals – public services such as city buses/trains are also potential subjects of benefit, as well as cooking surfaces at home. Again, it’s too early to make any definitive assumptions. It’s precisely this element of unascertained potential imbued in this recent scientific development that makes it an intriguing one to follow. The means of enhancing the state of humanity continue to grow endlessly as more and more researchers flock to investigate the latent possibilities of using a material mankind has known for quite a large portion of its modern