Team:Elan Vital South Korea/h promotion

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Promotion of Information Sharing in Hospitals

According to a report released medical news today, around 94,360 invasive MRSA infections are diagnosed annually in the US, with 18,650 associated deaths. Approximately 86% of all invasive MRSA infections are health care associated. In Korea, situation is more serious. Due to the sensitivity of the nature, general hospitals are reluctant to release accurate statistics regarding infection cases and many of the individual clinics do not have proper prevention system. We feel urgency given the current situation to encourage proper management of the infection prevention. By the initiative of Soo Jung Lee, we have visited more than 20 hospitals and clinics and explained the importance of accumulating statistical information and the implementation of proper prevention policy. We have distributed information brochure and requested them to display it so that patients can see it for their interest. Also, Soo Jung conducted an interview with a doctor. It was very useful for all of us to understand the current management status and it was very happy for our team to get support from medical professional in our efforts.

Following is the contents of the interview

Interview date : May 17, 2014
Interviewer : Lee, Soojung
Interviewee : Kim, Keonhwa

Inje University College of Medicine(2009-Present)

Harvard Medical School-Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 221 Longwood Avenue Brigham Dermatology Associates, and Boston Children’s Hospital Division of Rheumatology/Immunology/ Allergy Student Intern (May, 2014)

Scheduled MD Degree (Jan, 2015)

Question: I have heard there were frequent incidents of infection inside hospitals. Is this true?

Yes, infections that occur inside the hospital environment or any type of health care providing service centers are common and also a major problem both inside and outside of the US. The incidents that happen inside these environments are what we call hospital-acquired infections(HAI). There are many types of HAI that are classified by the route of transmission. The most common types, just to name a few, are blood stream infections(BSI), pneumonia, urinary tract infections(UTI) and surgical site infections(SSI). Blood stream infections are mostly due to the excessive drawing of blood for laboratory studies of patients. Contaminated needle tips or insufficient sterilization of the blood-drawn area are the most common causes. Pneumonia is usually caused by patients that are under bed-ridden states with ventilator association. The decreased breathing functions causes aspiration of foreign bodies into the respiratory tract. Urinary tract infections are mostly caused by catheter insertions to patients who have impaired bladder functions. Last but not least, surgical site infections are mostly due to insufficient sterilization and contaminated dressing procedures. The US Center for Disease Control(CDC) estimates around 1.7 million HAI and a total of almost 100,000 deaths due to HAI per year. This is a major problem that is preventable by physicians and health care professionals and should never be overlooked.

Question: In case such things happen, what kind of action takes place in the hospital?

Sterilization and antibiotic injection is what is mostly done to patients. Most patients recover from these infections if they are not in an immunosuppressed state or have severely impaired immunologic functions. However, the major problem is not only the recovery of infected patients but also the advent of microorganisms that are more highly resistant than the previous types. A couple of examples would be VRSA(Vancomycin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and CRE(Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae) which I, myself, have also seen in my university hospital Medical Intensive Care Unit(MICU). If such infections happen, the whole hospital floor or unit is shut down and access is restricted to everyone but health professionals. It is always safest to prevent any HAI by frequent hand washing and preventing redundant contact to patients with any contaminated object.

Question: What should the public and government do to prevent reoccurrence?

The public should always be aware that infections can be possible in any type of place or situation. The first step is to always keep your hands clean by washing them frequently and thoroughly with antibacterial sanitizers and minimizing infectious contact to others and yourself. The government should always sufficiently subsidize the Center for Disease Control and keep a statistically detailed track of the incidents and death rates due to HAI. Physicians and health care professionals should always be self-conscious about their own hygiene before encountering anyone in the hospital. Abiding by these basic sanitation rules will significantly decrease the rate of any type of infection inside and outside of the hospital.

Question: What kind of advice would you give to Lee, Soojung for her future as a medical scientist?

First, I would like to say it was a pleasure having this interview with you and I appreciate you taking medical advice from me. There are many different paths in pursuing a career in medical science, it can be a physician who works in hospitals and takes care of patients, a scientist who does research in laboratories for medical technology, a physician assistant, a nurse, an emergency medical technician and etc. But regardless of the field of study you may major or job you may have, anything that is related to medicine or medical science should be for the care and good of the people in need of help, patients. There is a short and famous saying for health care professionals : “Do no harm.” Which means, before you can treat or make a patient feel better, you should at least not do anything that aggravates the patient’s situation. That directly refers to the issue we have just talked about, hospital-acquired infections. Live by this rule, and you’ll see yourself positively contributing to yourself and the people around you in the world of medicine. There’s always much more to say, but I think it’s best to keep an advice simple for it to be followed. Thank you, and good luck with your future.

In addition, Ji Hoon Kim visited hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia when he came there and met with local medical professionals to know about the infection control measures. His input was very valuable for us to understand that there exists a big gap in the country specific policies and make us think about the necessity of establishing global standard and management system.

Young Chan Kim wrote an essay about MRSA infection statistics in Korea to make a better understanding on the current status of MRSA control system.