Quality Series: Infection Prevention

Course overview

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), also known as nosocomial infections, are a considerable source of human suffering, financial expenditure, and the cause of significant distrust and fear of the healthcare system. Many of them are preventable but continue to cause thousands of deaths and generate billions of dollars of expenditures in the U.S. every year. This course describes the main types of HAIs, how they are defined, their risk factors, and guidelines for their prevention and control. It also provides an overview of reporting and surveillance measures required by government entities, and methods for analyzing costs associated with infection prevention efforts in the acute care setting. The goal of this course is to provide nursing professionals in acute care settings with knowledge of publicly-reported HAIs, epidemiological and statistical concepts for studying HAIs, and methods for analyzing costs associated with infection prevention efforts.