The 10 Most Influential Multispeciality Hospitals The 10 Most Influential Multispecialty Hospital Sm | Page 40

W
ith so many new diseases on the loose, today, the mankind needs healthcare facilities more than ever.
Even with numerous hospitals and clinical facilities opened up, they always remain busy or
overflowing. We need doctors to help us get rid any kind of ailment. But, what if you are told that the
place where you go for treatment is the one that can bring new diseases? However contradictory it may sound,
this is a fact. Hospital-aided infections, commonly known as nosocomial infections, are the ones that we bring
home from the hospitals we visit. These are present in the hospital environment and get transmitted through
various sources.
Nursing homes, outpatient facilities, hospitals, and clinics are the places where one can acquire such infections.
They can be passed to a patient from other patients, hospital staff, and so on. These infections are caused due to
non-sterile and unclean hospital atmosphere, loopholes in infection control practices, and sick employees.
Various types of nosocomial infections are present.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is the ward where patients catch infection the most. Out of all the factors, the period of
stay at a hospital plays a major role in this. It is said that around one in every ten patients admitted in the hospital
catches a hospital-aided infection. The patients whose medical condition is more complex have more resistance
towards anti-biotic medicine and they become the easy targets.
Role of Weak Immune System
Patients enter a healthcare facility already sick. During illness, their immune systems are already weak. So, when
an opportunist infection attacks such bodies, the bodycannot fight back. For example, let’s say a patient suffering
from a viral fever visits a hospital. His/her immune system is already busy fighting the virus. Meanwhile, if the
38 | March 2019 |