Lou is a patient who had abdominal surgery and was diagnosed with a nosocomial infection due to a catheter in his bladder during post-op hospitalization. Nosocomial infections are commonly diagnosed in people who have to stay in hospitals for some period. Their major transmission routes include contact with an infected person, droplets, food, water, blood transition, and arthropods known as vectors (Fürnkranz & Walochnik, 2021). There are several ways to prevent the growth of this infection. According to Fürnkranz and Walochnik (2021), hand hygiene is one of the most critical elements in any prevention program. In addition, equipment and skin disinfection, protective gloves and masks, and regular catheter changing might help patients avoid serious complications. Healthcare providers must educate patients and their families about external threats to predict nosocomial infection development.
In developing countries, the rates of nosocomial infections continue to grow for different reasons. One of the most obvious explanations is that middle- and low-income nations have limited access to high-quality antibiotics (Maki & Zervos, 2021). People do not understand how to use the available resources reasonably, which provokes additional organizational and health problems. Secondly, evaluating current programs and policies proves that not many countries succeed in this direction, and improvements are required (Maki & Zervos, 2021). A final reason for increased nosocomial infections is a lack of professional supervision for healthcare providers and patients.
Like any infectious disease or pathogen, nosocomial infections have several critical risk factors related to impaired immunity. Thus, age and sex are the first two characteristics that might predispose individuals to the possibility of getting an infection. Maki and Zervos (2021) identify pre- or post-surgical statuses of patients and metabolism disturbances (the presence of chronic diseases like diabetes). A final risk factor is hospitalization length – the longer people are at hospitals, the higher their chances of getting infected are.
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