Infection Control and Aseptic Practices

Healthcare professionals have the responsibility to practice infection control according to scientifically based and accepted principles. This course provides the basic information necessary for healthcare professionals to monitor, control, and prevent infection in a broad array of healthcare facilities and places.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are infections that patients, healthcare staff, and families acquire related to the treatment of medical or surgical conditions. HAIs occur in all settings of care. HAIs include acute care within hospitals and outpatient surgical centers, ambulatory and urgent care clinics, medical offices, outpatient and long-term care facilities, nursing homes, birthing centers, diabetes education centers, dialysis centers, hospice homes, imaging and radiology centers, mental health and addiction treatment centers, and orthopedic and rehabilitation centers. These infections are associated with a variety of causes, including medical devices, complications following a surgical procedure, transmission between patients and healthcare workers, or the result of antibiotic overuse, and many others.

HAIs are a leading cause of death and increased morbidity for patients, both inpatient and outpatient, and pose a significant issue for healthcare providersas well as any others who enter into healthcare facilities.

The old term for hospital-acquired infections is nosocomial, but with increased outpatient care, the newly adapted terminology is now healthcare-acquired or healthcare-associated infections.

For decades, HAIs have long been a problem due to a number of factors including medical advances that have decreased patient immune systems and chronic disease. These factors combined with the shift toward outpatient care have created a hospital population that is both more susceptible to infection that ever before and more vulnerable once infected. Lastly, the increased use of invasive medical procedures and devices have exacerbated higher infection rates as well.

A national collaboration including national
organizations, state departments of health, and professional organizations have helped in the prevention and control of HAIs in various healthcare environments

The 2020 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) progress report utilizing the data gathered by the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSH) indicated th prevalence of HAIs was finally beginning to decline prior to 2020 because effective education and training. Unfortunately, the trends had begun reversing becaus of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this course is to renew the effort toward successful reduction of HAIs through knowledge, past experiences, and learning from prior mistakes. While 2020 was an unprecedented time, there is continued need to HAI surveillance and identification of gaps in prevention.