Nosocomial Infection

Week 8 Project -
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s Name
February 2, 2019
Introduction
These days, one of the most common issues associated with a prolonged hospital stay or after an operation are nosocomial infections. Recent reports show that nosocomial infections (also known as Health-care associated infections or HCAI) have a mortality rate of 99,000 people annually over the world Cen16 \l 1033 (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Since nosocomial infections affect almost all kinds of health-care facilities, then it just shows that there is an immediate need to work against its prevention. In light of this, this article would explore this issue. Particularly, it would focus on the PICOT question; What are the effects of using (I) 2% chlorhexidine gluconate compared (C) to using basin, soap, and water in (O) preventing nosocomial infections (health care acquired infection) over (T) thirty days in pre-operative and post-operative (P) adult surgical units. In the succeeding chapters of this article, this question would be explored in further detail. Some strategies to disseminate the results of this information would also be discussed in the succeeding sections. All in all, the author of this article believes that although evidence-based practice could help in finding solutions to the reduction of nosocomial infections, it is also important to find strategic ways for the dissemination of such information within a large organization.
Nosocomial Infection
Throughout the years, several studies have already shown the effectiveness of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) in reducing the possibility of nosocomial infections within the hospital settings. In one study conducted by Bleasdale, et al. (2007), the researchers conducted a study to determine whether the infusion of CHG on the solution used to bathe the patients could reduce the possibility of infection as compared to the use of soap and water. CHG is a kind of antiseptic and disinfectant used in many different medical procedures, which includes surgeries. The study above was conducted in a 22-bed ICU clinic in Illinois, which amounted to a total of 836 patients. The study led to the result that the BSI (Blood Stream Infection) ratio between those with CHG and those with bath soap and water is “4.1 versus 10.4 infections per 1000 patient days”, respectively  Ble07 \l 1033 (Bleasdale, et al., 2007). Moreover, since the data was treated with a 95% CI, this suggests that the use of 2% CHG significantly decreased the risks of Blood Stream Infections during surgical operations.
Another study conducted by Ayoub, Quirke, Conroy, and Hill (2015), has shown that the use of CHG is not only effective against the use of soap and water, but also with solutions like povidone-iodine (PI). In their study, the authors have conducted a systematic analysis of “six randomized-control with an overall 2484 participants”. In all of these trials, the researchers have focused on the variability of results (i.e., reduction of nosocomial infections) between operations that use PI and those that use CHG. Some of these studies also include a comparis...