Healthcare associated infections

Healthcare associated infections (HAI) are infections that are acquired as a direct or indirect result of healthcare. HAI is one of the most common complications affecting patients in hospital. As well as causing unnecessary pain and suffering for patients and their families, HAI can prolong a patient’s hospital stay and add considerably to the cost of delivering healthcare.

It is possible to reduce the incidence of HAIs through adherence to established infection prevention and control practices.

The SA Health Infection Control Service (ICS) coordinates the SA Health HAI surveillance program to monitor the occurrence of specific HAIs and provides state guidelines, tools and resource materials to assist health service providers with HAI prevention for healthcare professionals and the consumers.

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards

audit toolkit (PDF 238KB) aim to provide additional exemplar audit tools which may be of additional assistance to healthcare facilitites.

The SA Health HAI Prevention Policy Directive (PDF 422KB) ensures systems are in place to minimise the transmission of infectious diseases and the impact of HAI on patients and the healthcare system.

Clinical governance and quality systems 

Clinical governance and quality improvement systems must be in place to support and promote prevention and control of healthcare-associated infection, improve antimicrobial stewardship and support sustainable use of infection prevention and control resources, these include:

• integrating infection prevention and control and antimicrobial stewardship into clinical governance and quality systems
• use of a risk management approach when implementing policies, procedures and/or protocols
• undertaking surveillance of healthcare associated infections
• partnering with consumers in their care.

The Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare outlines core components of an infection prevention and control program.

Infection prevention and control systems

Strategies for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections include development, implementation and maintenance of:

• standard and transmission-based precautions
• a hand hygiene program consistent with the ACSQHC National Hand Hygiene Initiative (NHHI)
• systems and protocols for aseptic technique
• systems and protocols for indwelling medical device management
• a clean and hygienic environment; details on protocols and risk assessment for cleaning of the healthcare environment can be found in the SA Health Cleaning Standard for Healthcare Facilities (PDF 2MB).
• a risk-based health workforce immunisation program.

Managing patients with infection or colonisation

Patients presenting with, or acquiring, an infection or colonisation with a multidrug-resistant organism, Clostridioides difficile, Candida auris or other transmissible infection during their care are identified promptly and receive the necessary management and treatment.

This includes:

• the appropriate use of standard and transmission-based precautions (previously known as additional precautions)
• completing a risk assessment for the appropriate placement of patients with infectious diseases and multi-resistant organisms; tools include

• • Management of infectious diseases summary table (PDF 467KB)

• • Bed management toolkit for infectious diseases and multi-resistant organisms (PDF 415KB)
• protocols for communicating a patient’s infectious status on transfer between service providers.

Reprocessing of reusable equipment and devices

Reprocessing of reusable equipment and medical devices must meet current best practice and is consistent with recurrent national standards.  Health service organisation must minimise infection risks to patients and the workforce by ensuring adequate identification of, and procedures for reprocessing, reusable medical equipment.

Antimicrobial stewardship

Implementation of systems for the safe and appropriate antimicrobial prescribing and use, this includes

• monitoring of antimicrobial usage
• monitoring of antimicrobial resistance
• National alert system for critical antimicrobial resistance (CARAlert).

Communicating with patients and carers

Information on healthcare associated infections should be provided to patients, carers, consumers and service providers.

Further information

For further information on the prevention of healthcare associated infection contact SA Health's Infection Control Service on (08) 7425 7161.