Prevention of Infection in Home Health Care Essay

Prevention of Infection in Home Health Care - Essay Example As such, this brief analysis will seek to analyze the definition of infection, types of infection/most common types of infection that exist within home health care, the modes of these different infection transmissions, ways to impede or disrupt such transmissions, and self protective equipment and its application within the home health care setting. Though home health care accounts for but a small percentage of total health care delivery within the United States, it is nonetheless a growing sector of health care deserves discussion. According to a recent study, published in 2011, there has been a high level of growth within home care; however, it still pales in comparison to the total amount of money that is expended upon hospital care. As of 2011, home care represented just 3% of total health care expenditures as compared to over 31% of total expenditure taking place with relation to traditional hospitals. However, the fact remains that even though the figure is small; it is a growi ng sector and is expected to grow a further 2.5% in the coming decade. As such, it is necessary to understand some of the key nuances that exist within home care as a function of anticipating and treating these issues in a medically expeditious means. For purposes of this brief analysis, the author will consider infection to be, â€Å"the invasion of a host organism’s bodily tissues by disease-causing organisms, their multiplication, and the reaction of the host tissues to these organisms and the toxins they produce† (Krismer 2012). With such a broad and encompassing definition, it becomes clear that infection within home care encompasses a broad range of issues; some acting as a more primal threat to health than others. It is important to note that although many journal entries have warned concerning the level of latent disease and exposure that exists within hospital and primary care, the level to which pathogens exist within the environment of the home is far less u niform. Whereas hospitals most comply with federal standards of cleanliness and procedures for disposal of an array of disease causing agents, regularly schedule cleanings, and a host of other preventative mechanisms, home care is almost invariably not nearly so tightly regulated, or sanitary. For this very reason, the prevalence of disease and the severity with which it affects patients within the given context is almost invariably higher than a similarly community of patients within a traditional medical facility. However, the prevalence of infection within the home care theater is not reason in and of itself to strongly recommend against its implementation as a means of treatment. With regards to the types of infections and the most common infections that exhibit themselves within home care, there are a number which will herein be discussed. As one might expect, the very same infectious disease agents that exhibit themselves within the hospital care front are also exhibited withi n home care; albeit, to different extents and total percentage rates than in traditional hospital care. For instance, studies on home care have typically indicated that the most common types of infections are concentric upon urinary tract infections, followed by an array of different types of skin infections, with staphylococcus aureus, and enterococcus rounding out the least