Healthcare Associated Infections
Acquiring a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is a potential risk to anyone who has invasive medical treatment, surgery, or is hospitalized. Healthcare-associated infections are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving healthcare treatment for other conditions in a healthcare setting, and these infections can be devastating and deadly. Healthcare settings may include hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, dialysis centers and/or rehabilitation facilities. HAIs are the most common type of harmful event experienced by hospitalized patients, causing an estimated 1.7 million infections each year in the United States.
HAIs can be associated with invasive devices used in medical procedures, such as a central line, urinary catheter or ventilator. The use of such devices can harm patients’ natural defenses against germs and the longer these devices are in place, the greater the risk of infection. Catheter blood infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and catheter urinary tract infections account for two-thirds of all healthcare associated infections. HAIs may also occur at surgical sites, known as surgical site infections, or failing to closely follow infection control practices, such as hand washing.
- Diseases and Organisms in Healthcare Settings
- Patient Safety
- Resources for the General Public
- Top 10 Infection Prevention Questions to Ask a Nursing Home’s Leaders
- Types of Healthcare-associated Infections
- What You Need to Know About Antibiotics in a Nursing Home
- What You Need to Ask Your Healthcare Provider About Antibiotics
- Acinetobacter
- Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
- Clostridioides difficile (C. diff)
- Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease
- Legionellosis
- Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA)
- Carbapenem Susceptibility Testing Guideline – Utah Recommendations for Microbiology Laboratories
- Candida auris Screening Recommendations
- Infection Prevention Sign
- One and Only Campaign (Safe Injection Practices)
- Utah Communicable Disease Reporting Rule
- Utah Healthcare-associated Infections Public Reporting Rule
- Utah Healthcare-Associated Infections Reporting Rule
- Utah Infection Control Transfer Form (updated 02/2018)
- ED Transfer Communication Form
- Utah Resources for Infection Prevention in Utah Long-term Care Facilities (Manual)
- Resources for Healthcare Professionals/Clinicians
- Resources for the Infection Preventionist
- 2015 Utah Healthcare-Associated Infections Prevention Plan
- Annual Healthcare-Associated Infections Reports – Utah
- Annual Healthcare Worker Influenza Vaccination Coverage Reports – Utah
- Healthcare Associated Infections & Antibiotic Resistance Prevention Activities
- Healthcare-Associated Infections Data & Statistics (CDC) – U.S.
- Hospital Compare
- National Healthcare Safety Network – U.S.