Healthcare-associated infection prevention

-Automatic translation

Healthcare-associated infections can occur in hospitalised individuals, in rehabilitation or long-term care facilities, or who receive health care in outpatient clinics and the private practice rooms of healthcare providers.

Its causes can be micro-organisms transmitted by the hands of staff, utensils, or the environment, micro-organisms from the individual himself, reduced resistance due to surgery, or other interventions or diseases.

Main healthcare-associated infections

• Urinary tract infections are often associated with the use of urinary catheters

• Infections in surgical wounds following surgery

• Pneumonia due to treatment in ventilators

• Blood infections associated with the use of catheters

• Diarrhea caused by a virus or the result of taking antibiotics

• Infections caused by resistant bacteria.

Healthcare-associated infections lead to increased death rates, more extended hospital stays, and increased healthcare costs.

The most crucial task of infection control is to prevent these infections, but it is believed that with solid infection control, they can be reduced by 20-30%.

The accompanying videos from the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) graphically remind us how germs can spread from one person to another in everyday life.

The invisible challenge - within healthcare organisations
The invisible challenge - in the office and when shopping

Infection control and their registration in hospitals

According to the regulation on infection prevention measures, no. 817/2012 (Icelandic), there should be an infection prevention committee in hospitals and an infection prevention department whose role is to register operation-related infections and promote infection prevention within the hospital.

Infections within health care must be registered and reported to the Chief Epidemiologist with his instructions.