Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) in the United States

Hospital acquired infections (HAI) have always complicated patient’s hospital stay and affect the quality of life. With the search in Google scholar and PubMed database with the key words Hospital Acquired Infections in USA, the results of many studies have indicated larger prevalence of HAIs in the US with patients admitted in hospitals having at least one HAI with a severity that is varying. For example, a search with the key phrase epidemiology of Hospital acquired infections led to a study by Giuliano et al. (2018), which is about patient safety and prevention control of HAI state that each year. Giuliano et al. (2018) found that about 37,000 patients die from HAI related complications with other mortalities being associated with indirect consequences.

In another search in PubMed database using the same keywords, a study by Monegro et al. (2020) indicated that HAI do not only pose as the only local threat to patients, but it is also a complex problem that affects the entire healthcare system. Many studies have pointed out to the fact that, nursing care is highly associated with HAIs, and hence missing of nursing care increases the incidences of HAIs such as non-ventilator hospital acquired pneumonia and hence the high cost of pneumonia treatment. Some of the adverse events such as nosocomial infections, pressure ulcers, medication errors, and patient falls, are contributed by nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Another search in the Google Scholar using the same key words led to research by Voidazan et al. (2020) which concluded that the main cause of adverse events of HAI is excessive nursing workload, rotating shifts randomly, understanding, and working overtime which causes stress. The study is supported by the work of Sikora and Zahra (2021), found in PubMed database, who observes that stress among the nurses calls for a comprehensive workforce planning to optimize nursing care that is provided by patients. In this regard, the existence of missed nursing care is also influenced by the structure of qualification in nursing teams where the experienced registered nurses are replaced by the less trained nurses which leads to high risk of HAI incidences.

A search in PubMed led to McMullen et al. (2020) who observed that, incidences of HAI and other adverse events is influenced by nurse physician collaboration which suggests an association between nurse’s work environment and HAIs such as ventilator associated pneumonia and adverse events such as patient falls. There are other research results that have shown that missed nursing care is a global problem and hence the identification of such events and its causes should lead up to restructuring of nursing care services.

In conclusion, the keywords Hospital Acquired Infections In USA can be used on databases such as Google Scholar and PubMed to search information about HAI. The keywords lead to valuable resources, especially peer reviwed journal articles and studies done in the USA. They include Giuliano et al. (2018), Monegro et al. (2020), Voidazan et al. (2020), Sikora and Zahra (2021), and McMullen et al. (2020).

References

Giuliano, K. K., Baker, D., & Quinn, B. (2018). The epidemiology of nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia in the United States. American journal of infection control, 46(3), 322-327.

McMullen, K. M., Smith, B. A., & Rebmann, T. (2020). Impact of SARS-CoV-2 on hospital acquired infection rates in the United States: predictions and early results. American Journal of Infection Control, 48(11), 1409-1411.

Monegro, A. F., Muppidi, V., & Regunath, H. (2020). Hospital acquired infections. Statpearls [Internet].

Sikora, A., & Zahra, F. (2021). Nosocomial infections. StatPearls [Internet].

Voidazan, S., Albu, S., Toth, R., Grigorescu, B., Rachita, A., & Moldovan, I. (2020). Healthcare Associated Infections—A New Pathology in Medical Practice?. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(3), 760.