{"id":5338,"date":"2021-11-26T06:08:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T06:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhemn.org.ng\/?p=5338"},"modified":"2021-11-26T06:24:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T06:24:16","slug":"the-role-of-infection-control-in-improving-quality-and-safety-in-primary-healthcare-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhemn.org.ng\/the-role-of-infection-control-in-improving-quality-and-safety-in-primary-healthcare-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"The role of Infection control in improving quality and safety in primary healthcare in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"
The primary healthcare system which provides basic clinical and public health to one fifth of the global population has a notable history. The primary care institutions faced substantial challenges in the health care sector, including limited development, inadequate government funding and weakening of the support by public health care providers. This led to surging costs, poor quality, and diminished access to care in primary healthcare. Even though Nigeria has made remarkable efforts and achievements following reforms over the years, the service quality of primary health care in Nigeria is still poor.<\/p>\n
Healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is responsible for a substantial burden of diseases on patients and healthcare workers, especially in primary health care institutions with poor resources. For primary healthcare institutions, poor social environment, deficient infrastructures, rudimentary equipment, the lack of national and local infection control policies and the co-existence of other major health problems are the main determinants of the poor quality of care and a two to twenty times higher risk of acquiring HAI.1<\/sup><\/p>\n In developing countries, surveillance systems providing reliable and regularly collected data are non-existent and the burden of HAI is underestimated to a large extent and unknown by healthcare professionals and policy makers more especially at the primary healthcare level. Infection control should be prioritized at every level of the healthcare system to achieve an improved quality of care. The HAI rate can be reduced effectively and the compliance rate of health workers can be improved in the daily work by the efficient management, regular training, and setting a strong organization and surveillance system at the national level. Patient Safety and Service Quality Units in Hospitals have been established in many institutions globally to monitor patient care and facilitate the development of clinical protocols for patient safety. However, it is regrettable that most hospitals in Nigeria and Africa are yet to establish such units to improve healthcare delivery as well as checkmate medical errors. According to a study conducted among health workers in a tertiary hospital<\/a> in Nigeria, it was revealed that patient safety awareness and practice are low and most hospitals in Nigeria do not have an effective institutional protocol for preventing medical errors.<\/p>\n Medical advances have brought lifesaving care to patients in need. These advances in healthcare involves variety of invasive procedures and devices to treat patients to help them recover but this devices and procedures exposes the patient to a significant risk of infections refers to as healthcare associated infections.2<\/sup><\/p>\n HAIs is a global concern: however, in developing where the burden of HAIs is presumed to be higher compared to the developed nations, yet information on the surveillance of HAIs is not sufficiently available because of lack of countrywide surveillance programs and data.3<\/sup> HAIs are infections that first appear 48 hours or more after hospitalization or within 30 days after having received health care.4<\/sup> The term HAIs initially referred to those infections linked with admission to an acute-care hospital (earlier called nosocomial infections), but the term now includes infections developed in various settings where patients obtain health care (eg, long-term care, family medicine clinics, home care, and ambulatory care).3<\/sup><\/p>\n World Health Organization (WHO) defined Health care-associated infections, or \u201cnosocomial\u201d and \u201chospital\u201d as infections that affect patients in a hospital or other healthcare facility, and are not present or incubating at the time of admission. They also include infections acquired by patients in the hospital or facility but appearing after discharge, and occupational infections among staff.5<\/sup><\/p>\n Health care-associated infections, or infections acquired in health-care settings are the most frequent adverse event in health-care delivery worldwide.5<\/sup> the report further stated that of every 100 hospitalized patients at any given time, 7 in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire at least one health care-associated infection.5<\/sup><\/p>\n