‘Staff shortage behind high cases of hospital-acquired infections’ | Lucknow News

LUCKNOW: Severe shortage of dedicated staff is one of the major reasons for hospital-acquired infections (HAI) across India, according to experts.
Highlighting the issue on the second day of 46th annual conference of the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (MICROCON-2023) at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU), doctors said that the country has just one infection control nurse (ICN) per 1,000 beds, as compared to the WHO recommendation of one ICN on every 100 beds.
Prof Purva Mathur, a faculty member at the microbiology department of AIIMS, New Delhi, and in charge of the hospital infection control division of Laboratory Medicine, said: “The rate of HAI in developing countries, including India, is about 10% among all admissions, which is higher than the West, which is 7%. Shortage of ICNs is a major contributor to this as these nurses are key frontline professionals for the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) in any healthcare facility.”
Microbiologist Dr Manisha Biswal from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, who along with Prof Purva runs a network to monitor HAIs, said that ICNs also monitor the effectiveness of disinfectants, ensure proper autoclave operation, and test water quality.
“Additionally, they continuously monitor infection rates based on culture positivity to identify the types of organisms causing infections in hospitals and track antimicrobial resistance patterns. This data is tabulated monthly for each department to facilitate targeted interventions. This means ICNs can help in formulation of policies,” she added.
Prof Sumit Ray from microbiology department of AIIMS, Mangalagiri, said: “These nurses are required to achieve minimum HAIs because they also act as educators who train other staff and attendants of patients to follow best IPC practices.”