Healthy environment

Healthcare-associated infection (HAI), also known as nosocomial infection, is an infection that patients acquire during the course of receiving healthcare treatment for other conditions. These infections can occur in all settings of care, including acute care within hospitals, long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, and outpatient clinics or doctors' offices.

Causes

HAIs can be caused by a wide variety of common and unusual bacteria, fungi, and viruses. They can occur following surgery or as a result of care that requires the use of a life-saving device, such as a ventilator, urinary catheter, or intravenous line. In some cases, the healthcare provider can also be a carrier of the infection.

Types

There are several types of healthcare-associated infections, including:

• Surgical site infection (SSI)
• Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP)
• Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI)
• Central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI)

Prevention

Prevention of healthcare-associated infections involves a range of measures, such as hand hygiene, sterilization of medical equipment, use of protective clothing, and isolation of infected patients. In addition, healthcare facilities are encouraged to implement infection control programs, which include surveillance of HAIs and feedback of data to healthcare providers.

Impact

HAIs can have significant impacts on patient health, including prolonged hospital stays, long-term disability, increased resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobials, massive additional financial burdens for health systems, high costs for patients and their families, and unnecessary deaths. Template:Infectious-diseases-stub