Practices that Minimize Microbial Growth

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) have a major role in impacting the delivery of quality care to patients. The infections mainly result from viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens, which exists in a hospital environment. Lack of proper measures to control HAI results in increased morbidity and mortality rates in health-care. Additionally, increased cases of HAI impact the operations undertaken within the health-care systems as it affects the patients' outcomes. In the US health-care system, 1 in 25 hospitalized patients is found to have one HAI. Moreover, the high frequent cases of HAIs is as a result severe antibiotic-resistant bacteria which causes sepsis or death in severe cases. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates a total of 1.7 million cases of HAIs, with approximately 100,000 deaths that are associated with the infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). To capitalize on the implementation of measures to reduce the occurrence of HAIs, it is important to focus on effective practices that minimize microbial growth in the hospital environment. The practices play a significant role in the prevention and control of microbial growth, which is responsible for the development of HAIs.

Practice 1 

The first significant practice that is implemented in the health-care industry to limit microbial growth is sterilization. Sterilization is a process that focuses on eliminating and killing all forms of microorganism and biological agents from different kinds of surfaces. Based on the nature of the surface, the process of sterilization can be achieved through different means such as heating, filtration, use of high pressure and chemicals, and irradiation. The different ways used in the sterilization practice focuses on eliminating and limiting microbial growth on surfaces, in fluids, or on objects. In hospital environments, the practice is considered as an important measure that helps to minimize on the occurrence of health-care-associated infections, which have a significant role in impacting the quality of care and the rate of positive patients’ outcome (Guest et al., 2019). Considering that medicine and surgery equipment has a significant role in the development of the infections, the implementation of the practice is necessary for enhancing the reduction of microbial growth. The practice helps to ensure that the surgical equipment are kept sterile to limit the chances of causing new infections upon using them among the patients. The specific microbes that are impacted by the practice include viruses, bacteria, and all forms of unicellular Eukaryotes organisms. To ensure effectiveness in the given practice, it is necessary to capitalize on the implementation of effective procedures to apply the process of patient care standard operating procedures. The primary impact associated with the application of the process in different procedures in a health-care facility involves creating an improvement in patient outcomes. The health-care system should focus on ensuring that all hospitals have the necessary equipment for enhancing the effectiveness of the sterilization practice. Additionally, health-care professionals should have adequate knowledge of the effective measures to implement the practice. It is important to note that the sterilization practice does not only focuses on sterile equipment and surfaces but plays a vital role in promoting a safe environment.

Practice 2 

The second critical practice that is implemented in health-care to reduce and eliminate microbial growth is decontamination. Decontamination focuses on neutralizing and cleansing of objects and surfaces to remove harmful microorganisms that cause infectious diseases (Sexton et al., 2018). The implementation of the practice purposes to prevent the spread of microorganisms and noxious contaminants that affected human health. In a hospital environment, microorganisms are inevitable due to a wide range of health care conditions among patients. The most common methods of decontamination used in the hospital environment include physical cleaning using alcohol, detergents, and chemical washes, water purification, and ultrasonic cleaning. The methods focus on killing the microorganisms to prevent the growth and development of infections within the hospital environment. Swenson (2020), maintains that the decontamination practice helps to destroy the breeding grounds of the microorganism by focusing on ensuring that all the surfaces and objects remain clean at all times. The specific microbes that are affected by the process are the viruses and bacteria, which are common in hospital surfaces and objects. The process of decontamination is required to be a day to day procedure that targets all procedures in a hospital environment, to help in improving the general safety of patients. The process should be part of the patient care procedures that are implemented by the health-care industry to promote patient wellness. The health-care system should capitalize on the implementation of specific measures and procedures that may help in ensuring that all health-care professionals understand the need for engaging in the practice. The practice should be implemented in all departments in a health-care facility to limit the rates of infections. The implementation of the practice plays a crucial role in minimizing the HAIs by creating an environment that limits microbial growth that is responsible for the development of the infections.

Practice 3 

The third effective practice that is vital in reducing microbial growth in a health-care facility is sanitization. Sanitization is a practice that focuses on killing microorganisms such as viruses and bacterial on different surfaces. The process of sanitization is a top priority in the health care industry as it protects the transfer of infections between people and the transmission of infection from surfaces to people. Considering that naked eyes cannot detect most of the microorganism that causes healthcare-associated infections, the CDC urges hospitals to capitalize on the implementation of sanitization procedures to help in controlling the spread of the infections to people through contact. The sanitization practices focus on the use of different types of sanitizers, which can kill the microorganisms that are responsible for microbial growth (Moura, et al., 2018). Some of the procedures implemented to promote effective sanitization include capitalizing on hand hygiene, which is a practice that urges all patients and health workers to sanitize their hand prior to engaging in any operation in a hospital environment. Additionally, the process of sanitizing surfaces helps to limit microbial growth on the surfaces, which helps to reduce the spread of hospital infections. The most affected microbes, in this case, include viruses, which are transferred using different kinds of procedures such as physical contact with the affected persons. The implementation of habits to promote proper hygiene in the hospital environment through sanitization helps in creating a significant reduction in the occurrence of infections in a health-care environment. To include the practice in the normal day to day operations in a hospital, it is necessary to focus on educating health-care professionals on the need to sanitize their hands and equipment prior to engaging in any patient handling procedure. The patients should understand the need to sanitize their hands any time they are in a health care facility. The provision of sanitizers in a health-care facility is an important aspect that may help in promoting quality care and positive patient outcomes.

Conclusion 

Healthcare-associated infections play a significant role in increasing the number of deaths of patients admitted to hospitals. The infections tend to worsen the health conditions of the patient, thus creating significant delays in the healing process. Dealing with the infections requires the health-care system to capitalize on the implementation of practices and procedures that seek to reduce the rates of infections. The key practices that may be used to reduce microbial growth that cause infections include sterilization, decontamination and sanitization. The practices play a significant role in killing and eliminating microbes, thus minimizing the levels of infections spread in the hospital environment.

References 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) . https://www.cdc.gov/winnablebattles/report/HAIs.html

Guest, J. F., Keating, T., Gould, D., & Wigglesworth, N. (2019). Modeling the costs and consequences of reducing healthcare-associated infections by improving hand hygiene in an average hospital in England. BMJ Open, 9 (10), 1-19.

Moura, J., Baylina, P., Logarinho, J., Conceição, F., São Simão, R., & Alves, C. (2018). Exploring direct costs of primary hip and knee arthroplasties healthcare-associated infections: A retrospective study.  International Journal of Healthcare Management , 1-5.

Sexton, J. D., Wilson, A. M., Sassi, H. P., & Reynolds, K. A. (2018). Tracking and controlling soft surface contamination in health care settings.  American Journal of Infection Control ,  46 (1), 39-43.

Swenson, D. (2020). Review of current practice in preventing healthcare-associated infections. In Assurance of Sterility for Sensitive Combination Products and Materials (pp. 135-164). Academic Press.