PICO and Evidence-based Practice Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay (Essay Sample)

PICO and Evidence-based Practice
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Institution
PICO and Evidence-Based Practice
Healthcare Problem
Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) occur in patients undergoing medical care in healthcare facilities or hospitals and who initially did not have the infection during admission. The infections can occur during the treatment of other diseases or even after the patient has been discharged. The most prevalent types of these infections include the central line and catheter-associated infections, those associated with ventilators and surgical site infections. Most of the pathogens responsible for these infections are transmitted from infected patients to others through the staff providing care as a result of improperly cleansed hands. Health care workers hands are commonly colonized by pathogens that can survive up to 150 hours from their environment or by touching the patient or objects in the patient’s room (WHO, 2016).
The significance of the problem
A large number of patients globally are affected by hospital-acquired infections which elevate their mortality rates and increases financial losses significantly. In every one hundred patients who are hospitalized, ten in developing and seven in developed nations are at risk of acquiring hospital-acquired infections (Danasekaran et al., 2017). Estimates show that nearly 15% of all hospitalized patients suffer from these infections and they have been associated with 5 to 55% of all causes of death in neonates (WHO, 2016). Low-income countries have an overall infection frequency that is three times higher than that of high-income countries. These infections are associated with prolonged stays in hospital, increased resistance to antimicrobials, disabilities that can be long-term, increased rates of mortality and socioeconomic disturbance.