LIFE AT RISK IN ICU CARE -HOW INFECTION RULES - Today India has many ICU Care units with progress of the health care the major problem remain with getting the well qualified and truly caring professionals, and nursing education too no better in the country, most trained with theory than practicing nursing certainly need to rethink how we train nurses with practicality rather than theoretical examinations, Certainly the medics need more training on caring and practicing aseptic practices a major revelation says Elderly patients treated with central catheter and/or mechanical ventilation devices in intensive care units (ICUs), admitted from the emergency department or as an urgent case, are at very high risk for hospital-acquired infection (HAI), according to the results of research presented here at the 22nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.In-hospital mortality in ICU patients with HAI was 4 times higher than in those without HAI, according to this analysis of an American hospital database."These data...confirm the current burden of HAI on ICU patients and the role of known risk factors, mainly invasive devices, to which this population is highly exposed, although in this study, the exposure rate to mechanical ventilation is unusually low," "The studies emphasize the importance of infection-control practices in critically ill patients that are currently implemented at many hospitals,"Although many issues of infection control can be countered by technology (gloves, sharp's covers, air exchanges), none of these aids work without constant vigilance on the part of healthcare workers (HCWs). Caution is especially critical in the intensive care unit (ICU). ICU patients' severe illnesses and injuries necessitate much more hands-on care than in normal wards,
Today much of ICU care is handled by Nursing and Junior residents, we certainly need to have changed curriculum in Microbiology for Nursing and Medical graduates on caring more for Humans than on uncommon microbes
Hope it is time that all teaching institutes should implement the methods to train the young graduates
Ref Hospital-Acquired Infections Quadruple ICU Mortality Becky McCall
Dr.T.V.Rao MD Freelance Reporter