What are healthcare associated infections, nosocomial infections and hospital acquired infections?
Are they synonyms? Healthcare-associated infections are infections occurring as a result of exposure to healthcare facilities or healthcare procedures. Hospital acquired infections, also referred to as ‘nosocomial infections’ or simply ‘hospital infections’, are infections occurring during a stay in hospital that were neither present nor incubating at the time of hospital admission. So, every hospital acquired or nosocomial infection is a healthcare associated infection, but not vice versa. How many patients in the EU are affected by healthcare associated infections every year? The available data represent hospital acquired infections only and are therefore an underestimation of the amount of healthcare associated infections. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has calculated that the yearly number of patients in the EU with at least one hospital acquired infection can be estimated at 4.1 million patients, equivalent to one in twenty hospitalised patients. Sin
Related Questions
- What is healthcare associated infection and how does it differ from hospital acquired infection or community acquired infection?
- Who is responsible in the hospital for reporting healthcare associated infections in Connecticut?
- What are some of the financial problems associated with hospital acquired infections (HAIs)?
