Policy Paper Infection Prevention

Infection is a type of disease that is instituted by microorganisms that tend to create an invasion to the body tissue (Park, Ko, An, Bang, & Chung, 2017). Various types of infections exist such as flu, common cold, strep throat, urinary tract infection, stomach flu, pneumonia, cellulitis and sexually transmitted diseases. It should be noted that the patients in the ICU have a high propensity of contacting healthcare related infections with 30% - 40% arising from central line related blood stream infections. The statistics also show that almost 48% of the patients have their health conditions deteriorate due to such infections (Yoon, Lee, Seo, Kim, Kim, Yang, & Sohn, 2016). It is, therefore, important that guidelines be instituted to help curb the notion of high prevalence of these infections.

This policy is aligned to the values and mission of the hospital that advocate for the provision of the healthcare services in a holistic way with keen attention the dignity and diversity to every stakeholder in this hospital. Working with integrity and with the hope to inspire every individual within the institution is very critical as it gives much attention to the wholesome development of the various persons in the hospital. The sponsor of this policy is Nicole Kraut, who deals with infection prevention. The inception of a policy that governs the control and prevention of infections is very crucial for the institution as it gives way to having an informed framework of enhancing healthcare delivery. In this policy manual, the best way to prevent is to use the evidence based strategies that have been monitored and approved by the Infection Control Committee.

While much attention is given to education and training, the policy also encourages the proper and appropriate selection of sites and catheters. For example, in adults, it advocates for the use of upper- extremity while carrying out the catheter insertion. Additionally, the policy asserts that the selection of the catheter should be based on the purpose intended, the known non-infectious or infections complications (For example, infiltration and phlebitis), the time period of use and the experience of the operators of catheters. The policy also warns against the use of needles for the insertion of fluid into the body since it might lead to necrosis in the event that extravasation takes place (Valencia, Hammami, Agodi, Lepape, Herrejon, Blot, & Lambert, 2016). The policy makers here used categorical scheme of grading in which the grading was grouped into Categories IB, IC, and IA among others.

On the other hand, the CPG deals with a specific segment of policy and provide intensive sets of recommendations on the policy area. For example, in dealing with control of bloodstream infections, the CPG give much attention to the prevention of intravascular catheter-related infections which is a specific course of action as opposed to the general bloodstream infections as noted in PHP (Latif, Halim, & Pronovost, 2015). The PHP only gives five recommendations which are line necessity, line care, and site selection, skim prep, maximum barrier precautions and hand hygiene. The current policy guideline on the other hand gives 20 recommendations on this area making it more detailed than the PHP. The current policy guideline therefore gives a proper roadmap for which the PHP can be elaborated and well-implemented.