6 Causes of Hospital Acquired Diseases and Infections
A healthcare facility is a place we often trust to get the right treatment for our health issues. Nevertheless, it may sound counterintuitive to think that you can contract diseases and infections from the hospital.
As a matter of fact, a healthcare facility is the one place that exposes you a lot of hazardous infectious bacteria and viruses.
A healthcare facility is considered unsafe because there are many different patients suffering from various diseases and infections seeking for the same medical services at the same time as you.
In this article, we will discuss six causes of hospital acquired diseases and infections to better prepare you the next time you visit one.
Contaminated Surgical Instruments and Objects
In general, medical instruments (especially surgical instruments) are very expensive to acquire. As such, medical facilities often sterilize the existing instruments and re-use them in subsequent surgical procedures.
However, lack of proper sterilization risks leaving viruses and bacteria on the surgical instruments, which get transferred to you when a surgical procedure is conducted on you using the same instruments.
Additionally, apparatus trays and carts are often touched during sterilization. In such a case, the bacteria on the tray will be transferred on to the clean apparatus, and finally to you.
Such bacteria cycle might cause damages to new patients, adding on to the treatment costs.
Conclusive medical reports and treatment bills are an important bargaining chip in the hands of your medical malpractice lawyer Michigan as they file a medical negligence litigation against the facility and the medical practitioner.
Contact with a Healthcare Provider
A conclusive study done to investigate the cause of children deaths shortly after birth showed that the majority of the death cases were caused by infections transferred by the practitioners during delivery.
To that effect, standard protocols were set to govern the hygiene practices in special rooms, such as delivery and operating rooms. One of the standard procedures is scrubbing thoroughly before and after accessing the special rooms, which as in the study above, reduced children deaths by a significant margin.
However, failure to adhere to the set standards of hygiene prompts pathogen transfers in between surfaces and patients via the practitioner’s hands.
Contaminated HVAC Systems
HVAC systems (especially air ducts) provide an easy and fast way for air-borne bacteria and viruses to move.
A health facility is one of the many places that are prone to outbreaks of contagious infections.
To reduce the chances of such outbreaks, air ducts and ventilation spaces are often fumigated to get rid of any infectious bacteria or viruses that may have found their way inside.
Overcrowded Facilities
It is very easy to go to a health facility seeking treatment and end up going home with additional health issues. Such a phenomenon is very common in small facilities that serve a lot of patients, which results in overcrowding.
You can rest assured that you are going back to the hospital very soon, probably exhibiting worse health issues than the previous ones.
Contact with Infected Surfaces
Bacteria and viruses are primarily carried in human bodily fluids, such as saliva, blood, and sweat.
Once you are in a medical facility, you should expect to see people vomiting, bleeding, and spitting on the floor surfaces. As such, coming into contact with such infected surfaces will increase your chances of contracting diseases and other infections.
However, medical facilities try to control disease transfer by cleaning the floors and benches using strong chlorine-based bleaches and disinfectants.
Understaffed Facilities
Understaffed medical facilities put their patients at risks of cross-infections (contrary to what is required of them), especially when there is an emergency.
The high influx of patients in the emergency room can cause additional infections, seeing that the medical practitioners jump from one patient to the other with little to no caution.
Conclusion
The causes of hospital acquired diseases and infections discussed above in this article are preventable. As such, it would help to hire an experienced medical malpractice lawyer who will help you file a medical negligence lawsuit and get compensation for the pain and suffering caused by the hospital acquired infections and diseases.
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