Miss
SEPTEMBER 2011 COHORT
NURS 07001
ESSENTIAL NURSING SKILLS
23 APRIL 2012
WORD COUNT: 539
Health care-associated infections (HAI) affect hundreds of millions of patients worldwide every year (WHO 2009). HAI’s can inflict unexpected high costs to the NHS, not only is there a financial problem but HAI’s can contribute to unnecessary patient deaths. The Cleanliness Champion programme was introduced by the Government and it aims to promote all those who work in a health care setting to use appropriate methods of infection control techniques.
A simple break in the chain of infection by always using the Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) can save the NHS thousands of pounds every year not to mention saving patients’ lives. Cleanliness Champions have been put in place to make sure Standard Infection Control Precautions are implemented within health care settings.
MRSA (Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) is one example of the staphylococcus family common bacteria (BBC Health–MRSA). There are many strains of MRSA and many people carry it in their throat, nose and skin folds. MRSA is an infectious agent and can live on the body for example in eczema, varicose and decubitus ulcers, this acts like a reservoir providing ideal conditions for the MRSA to lie in skin folds and in wounds. For the bacteria to exit the portal it can simple be spread from skin to skin contact. To break the chain of infection the patient should wash their hands. However, not practising good hygiene gives the bacteria a means of transmission. The bacteria will wait for a portal of entry; this could be another patient touching contaminated skin. There have been a number of campaigns to eradicate the transmission of MRSA, and one of them is from the World Health Organisation “Save lives clean your hands”. This campaign is for Health Care workers to assess within their own departments how often hand hygiene is being carried out by their colleagues (WHO
NURS 07001
ESSENTIAL NURSING SKILLS
23 APRIL 2012
WORD COUNT: 539
Health care-associated infections (HAI) affect hundreds of millions of patients worldwide every year (WHO 2009). HAI’s can inflict unexpected high costs to the NHS, not only is there a financial problem but HAI’s can contribute to unnecessary patient deaths. The Cleanliness Champion programme was introduced by the Government and it aims to promote all those who work in a health care setting to use appropriate methods of infection control techniques.
A simple break in the chain of infection by always using the Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) can save the NHS thousands of pounds every year not to mention saving patients’ lives. Cleanliness Champions have been put in place to make sure Standard Infection Control Precautions are implemented within health care settings.
MRSA (Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) is one example of the staphylococcus family common bacteria (BBC Health–MRSA). There are many strains of MRSA and many people carry it in their throat, nose and skin folds. MRSA is an infectious agent and can live on the body for example in eczema, varicose and decubitus ulcers, this acts like a reservoir providing ideal conditions for the MRSA to lie in skin folds and in wounds. For the bacteria to exit the portal it can simple be spread from skin to skin contact. To break the chain of infection the patient should wash their hands. However, not practising good hygiene gives the bacteria a means of transmission. The bacteria will wait for a portal of entry; this could be another patient touching contaminated skin. There have been a number of campaigns to eradicate the transmission of MRSA, and one of them is from the World Health Organisation “Save lives clean your hands”. This campaign is for Health Care workers to assess within their own departments how often hand hygiene is being carried out by their colleagues (WHO
References: BBC Health – MRSA (2012), What is MRSA, [On-line], Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/mrsa.shtml [17 March 2012] Health Protection Scotland (HPS) (May 2009), National Hand Hygiene NHS Campaign Compliance with Hand Hygiene – Audit Report Health Protection Scotland (Report): Available: http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/haiic/ic/ nationalhandhygienecampaign.aspx [17 March 2012] Royal College of Nursing, (2005). Good Practice in Infection Prevention and Control, Guidance for Nursing Staff, Vol. 1, pp. 7-8 WHO (2009) WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health care: a summary, [Online] Available: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2009/WHO_IER_PSP_2009.07_eng.pdf WHO (2012), Your action Plan for Hand Hygiene Improvement Template, Action Plan for WHO Framework, Inadequate/Basic Results, [On-line], Available: http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/EN_PSP_GPSC1_5May_2012/en/index.html [17 March 2012]