Healthcare Associated Infections Flashcards
Define health care associated infection
Infections that were not present or in the pre-symptomatic phase at the time of admission to hospital or which arise more than 48 hours after admission or within 48 hours of discharge
State the percentage of patients who get health care associated infections
4.9%
State the possible outcomes of health care associated infections
Extended length of stay, pain, discomfort, permanent disability, death.
Increased cost and loss of public confidence and decreased staff morale
State the most common sites for health care associated infections
UTI, surgical site, RTI, Blood stream infections, GI infection, Skin and soft tissue infections
State the number of bacteria in adult human
10 to the power of 14
`State the body’s first line of defence against infecion
Intact skin, normal flora, body secretions, gastric acid, fluishing
State the percentage of the population colonised with staphylococcus aureus in their nose - that includes patients, staff and relatives
30%
How can a bacteria which is colonising a human cause and infection
Break in the skin (surgical site), vascular device, catheter associated, ventilator
State the microbial factors which can cause infection
Increased resistance, increased virulence, increased transmissability, increased survival ability, ability to evade host defences
State the bacteria which can be spread through direct contact
Staphylococcus aureus and coliforms
State the bacteria which can be spread via respiratory or droplet method
Neisseria meningitidis, mycobacteria tuberculosis
State the faecal-oral bacteria which can be spread
Clostridium Difficile, Salmonella
State the bacteria which can be spread through penetrating injury
Group A strep, bloodborne viruses
State the different ways in which the chain of infection can be broken
Risk awareness, standard infection prevention and control precautions, hand hygiene, appropriate PPE, vaccination, post exposure prophylaxis, environment
Define cleaning
Physical removal of organic material and decrease in microbial load
Define disinfection
Large reduction in microbe numbers
Define sterilisation
Removal and destruction of all microbes and spores
State low risk equiptment and how it should be cleaned
Stethoscopes, cots, mattresses should be cleaned according to manufactures instructions
State the medium risk equipment and how it should be cleaned
Bedpans, vaginal specula and endoscopes should be disinfected or sterilised as appropriate
State the high risk equipment and how it should be cleaned
Surgical instruments and these should always be sterilised
State the different methods of sterilisation
Steam under pressure (autoclave), hot air oven, gas (ethylene dioxide) or ionising radiation
Define local surveillance
Lab detects an organism and notifies IPCT and clinicians
State the advantages of local surveillance
Know what organism is and specific recommendations made
State the disadvantages of local surveillance
Depends on samples being sent, time taken to detect organism, tests not 100% accurate
Define clinical area based local surveillance
Notify infection prevention and control team
State the advantages of clinical area based local surveillance
Detect potential problem sooner and can ensure the correct samples are sent to the lab
State the disadvantages of clinical area based local surveillance
The causative microbe is not known and PC measures need to be more general
Define outbreak
An outbreak of an infection is defined as 2 or more cases of an infection linked in both time and place
How can an outbreak be identified
Act on suspicion, typing is necessary to determine if the same strain is present ie an outbreak
State the different typing methods
Antiobiogram, phage typing, pyocin typing, serotyping, molecular typing
State the control measures which can be used to prevent an outbreak
Single room isolation, cohorting of cases, clinical area/ward closure, staff exclusion, staff decolonisation
State the clinical characteristics of C.Difff
Diarrhoea, faeces have a characteristic odour, abdominal pain, pyrexia and raised white cell count
State the risk factors for C.Diff infection
Imbalance in gut flora, endogenous or exogenous source, variable in severity, elderly more susceptible
State the treatment of C.Diff
Oral metronidazole, oral vancomycin if severe or failure to improve on metronidazole, oral fidaxomicin if 2nd episode
