Q. What are ‘Hospital acquired infections’ (HAI)?
A. HAI are those infections which are not present at the time patient is admitted in the hospital, and are acquired later on during the hospital stay.
Q. What kind of infections can be acquired in the hospital?
A. 1. Pneumonia, especially in patients on ventilator support.
2. Urinary infections in patients who have urinary catheter inserted.
3. Blood-stream infections, especially in patients with central line.
4. Post-operative infections i.e. infections after any surgery.
Q. How do infections acquired in the hospital differ from the community-acquired infections?
A. Bugs in the hospital are ‘bad’ in the terms of their poor response to the usual antibiotics. They are very often resistant to many antibiotics. Therefore higher antibiotics have to be given for the treatment.
Q. Can these infections be prevented?
A. The rate of HAI can never be ‘ZERO’ in any hospital. However, the risk of these infections can be reduced with good infection control practices in the hospital like hand hygiene (hand wash and rub) and avoiding unnecessary use of antibiotics.