Infection control program
The overarching purpose of this Infection Control Program is to minimize the acquisition risk for healthcare-related infections among the patients and the infections acquired by healthcare workers in their occupation. These goals are established after considering the various views from health care workers and aspects related to this field. These include a risk assessment done in conjunction with physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers; establishing and prioritizing goals on the basis of risk assessment; collaboration with clinical services and other safety and quality enhancement programs in a clinical systems; development and implementation of policies for infection control; biological emergencies planning; integration of the infections control efforts in the community and hospital environment. A major aspect considered in the process is risk assessment which is based on aspects relating to geographic location, the services to be offered and the characteristics of the target population. The evaluation of every potential risk is performed on the basis of occurrence probability, severity and the preparedness of organizations to risk control and the various regulatory requirements (Huber, 2014). An assessment of the risks is done in order to prioritize them on the basis of findings from activities such as surveillance which help in identifying the emergence of infectious diseases or other health emergencies. The assessment of the risks assists in the prioritization of goals which in turn help in resource allocation for this infection control program. The prioritized goals comprise of the metrics, surveillance methods, set targets and activities aimed at achieving these targets.
The target, population as aforementioned, includes the healthcare workers and the patients in the healthcare facilities’ environment. The program will involve the inputs from the healthcare workers in developing protocols for developing for preventing occupationally acquired infections which will include vaccination and screening. Patients in healthcare facilities are exposed to any kind of infection outbreak especially in those facilities that are crowded or that have limited spaces that can allow effective control of infections. As such the program will involve a thorough investigation of risk factors that can lead to an outbreak of such infections. Hence, the target population needs to be involved in the investigation and implementation of control measures. The health care staff will be approached to help in sensitizing the patients and even patient’s families on how to ensure that the risks of infections are minimized. The education of healthcare workers on how to infections in hospitals will be provided on a continuous basis so that they can pass on the knowledge to patients and their families (UNC Health Care, 2016). The concepts for infection control will be communicated to the public through sign for patients’ isolation, placing fliers in patients admission pack with a reminder that it is alright for them to remind healthcare employees to disinfect their hands. The program will, hence, endeavor to ensure that the target population is informed properly on how to prevent infections, detect the emergence of infections and how to control them from spreading.
There are substantial benefits of having an infection control program as an essential component in the delivery of healthcare. The program is clinically effective and also cost-effective since it offers vital cost savings in regard to fewer infections associated in healthcare. It also guarantees reduced length of time that patients have to stay at a healthcare facility and reduced cases of antimicrobial resistance. Another benefit is the reduced cost in the treatment of various infections that that may arise in the healthcare delivery environment. Through this program, the healthcare workers will manage to prevent the cases of occupational infections and hence reduce the amount of time working time wasted by nurses who get infected. The results are improved service delivery to the patients and the improvement of the working environment of these healthcare workers (UNC Health Care, 2016). Reduced time of stay by the patients at the hospital means that the cost of treatment will be minimized and the can spend time with their families. Of more importance is the overall cost that healthcare facilities will be able to save by reducing the risk of infection in their set up The cost of this program will be about $ 263,000 for a typical 320- Bed Hospital taking into account the cost of epidemiologist at $ 60,000, administration at $33,000, supplies and other fringe benefits at $ 60,000 and the implementation of the program at $ 110,000. This would save the hospital about $ 900,000 in cost that would be needed in the treatment of infections if such a program is not in place.
The evaluation of the program for effectiveness will be conducted on annual basis for the annual plan implementation and goals that have been prioritized. The evaluation will also be done on whether the desired goals have been achieved in terms of compliance with relevant policies and reduction of infection. The evaluation will also be done to check out any improvement that can be done to enhance prevention after determining and analyzing failures in meeting the target goals.
References
Huber, D. (2014).Leadership and Nursing Care Management. Maryland Heights, MO: Saunders Elsevier.5 E.d.
UNC Health Care,(2016). Infection Control Manual. Retrieved from: https://spice.unc.edu/files/2012/06/Infection-Control-Plan-FY2016.pdf
