{"title":"Preventing healthcare-associated infections by decontaminating the clinical environment.","authors":"Sacha McMillan","doi":"10.7748/ns.2022.e11935","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) continue to cause patient harm and at increasing rates. Factors contributing to this increase include suboptimal hand hygiene, antimicrobial resistance, and inadequate decontamination of the patient environment and shared patient equipment. To reduce the risk of HAIs and enhance patient safety, it is important that nurses and other healthcare professionals adhere to infection prevention and control guidance, including decontamination procedures. It is also important to identify and address the barriers that can affect adherence to this guidance. This article discusses effective decontamination of the patient environment and non-critical shared patient equipment, the barriers to adhering to guidance and strategies for improving decontamination procedures.</p>","PeriodicalId":12371,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Affairs","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Foreign Affairs","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2022.e11935","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) continue to cause patient harm and at increasing rates. Factors contributing to this increase include suboptimal hand hygiene, antimicrobial resistance, and inadequate decontamination of the patient environment and shared patient equipment. To reduce the risk of HAIs and enhance patient safety, it is important that nurses and other healthcare professionals adhere to infection prevention and control guidance, including decontamination procedures. It is also important to identify and address the barriers that can affect adherence to this guidance. This article discusses effective decontamination of the patient environment and non-critical shared patient equipment, the barriers to adhering to guidance and strategies for improving decontamination procedures.
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1922, Foreign Affairs is a prominent American magazine that focuses on international relations and U.S. foreign policy. It is published by the Council on Foreign Relations, an esteemed nonpartisan think tank and membership organization dedicated to analyzing U.S. foreign policy and global affairs. While the print magazine is released every two months, the website offers daily articles and publishes anthologies every other month.