Kiambu
Monday May 13 2024
KNA by Wangari Ndirangu
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published the first global guidelines to prevent the occurrence of bloodstream and other infections caused by use of catheters.
A catheter is a tube that is placed in minor blood vessels during medical procedures.
Poor practices in the insertion, maintenance, and removal of the catheters carries a high risk of introducing germs directly to the bloodstream, which could lead to serious conditions
In a press release, WHO says that serious conditions such as sepsis which is the body’s extreme response to an infection, is a life-threatening medical emergency and difficult-to-treat complications in major organs like the brain and kidneys as well as soft tissue infections at the insertion site of the catheter can also occur.
WHO Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage Dr. Bruce Aylward says that infections associated with health care delivery represent a preventable tragedy and a serious threat to the quality and safety of health care.
“Implementing clean care and infection prevention and control recommendations is critical to saving lives and alleviating a great deal of avoidable suffering experienced by people around the world,” he added.
According to WHO, up to 70 percent of all inpatients require the use of a catheter inserted into a peripheral vein or artery at some point during their hospital stay.
People who receive treatments through catheters often are particularly vulnerable to infections, as they might be seriously ill or have low immunity.
WHO estimates that between 2000 and 2018, average mortality among patients affected by health care associated sepsis was 24.4 percent, increasing to 52.3 percent among patients treated in intensive care units.
Developing and implementing guidance to prevent the spread of such infections has been a key priority for WHO and the new guidelines include 14 good practice statements and 23 recommendations on key areas for health workers that include education and training of health workers, techniques of a sepsis and hand hygiene practices insertion, maintenance, access, removal of catheters, and catheter selection.
Dr. Aylward said that WHO will continue to work with countries to develop and implement best practices to reduce the occurrence of bloodstream infections in hospitals, and to ensure all patients receive safe and effective care.
Many bloodstream infections are caused by antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. It is estimated that bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was directly responsible for at least 1.27 million deaths and contributed to an additional 4.95 million deaths in 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
Courtesy: KNA