On the Nagyerdei Campus of the University of Debrecen Clinical Center, the Hospital Hygiene Department will operate in a new location in the future: it will continue its activities in a joint building with the Epidemiological Coordination Center, so that specialists can work in close cooperation for even safer patient care.
The most important task of the Hospital Hygiene Department of the Clinical Center is the detection, monitoring and prevention of healthcare-related infections. Their employees are epidemiological supervisor nurses with many years of clinical experience, as well as public health inspectors and public health epidemiological inspectors.
From the microbiological program, we collect the cases in which healthcare-related infection arises, we report this to the given clinic and, depending on the location of colonization/infection and the characteristics of the pathogen, we order the necessary infection control measures to prevent further spread. For example, isolation of the patient, additional screening tests to trace contacts, strict disinfection and we recommend the use of an infectious disease council. We monitor the patient’s further condition and make the necessary notifications to the epidemiological system
– explained Gabriella Gömöri, head of the Hospital Hygiene Department.
The chief physician added: the managers of the Clinical Center and the relevant patient care units are also regularly informed about the collected data since the common goal is to reduce the number of healthcare-related infections, especially multi-resistant pathogens, and bloodstream infections, and to prevent infections.
In order to prevent this, the specialists of the department regularly inspect the various clinics, where, among other things, they check the cleanliness of the environment (including the adequacy of catering, textile and waste management), the personal hygiene of the workers, and, if necessary, they also carry out microbiological sampling. Great care is taken to shape the attitude of the employees and also to education.
Together with the managers of the clinics, they develop proposals on how to prevent infections and how to make patient care safer. With their activities, they protect the patients as well as the workers.
The department will continue its activities in the future in a joint building with the Epidemiological Coordination Center on the Nagyerde Campus. This enables even closer professional cooperation between the Epidemiological Coordination Center and the staff of the department to ensure safe patient care.
Currently, the main task of the Epidemiological Coordination Center’s activities is to collect and analyze information related to serious acute respiratory infections, such as influenza, RSV and coronavirus infection. The Epidemiological Coordination Center regularly provides data on the number, condition, and care of patients to the management of the Clinical Center and the National Center for Public Health. The staff of the Hospital Hygiene Department are responsible for ordering and checking the infection control measures related to the infected (for example, isolation, advanced continuous and final disinfection, use of personal protective equipment). The fact that we operate in one place enables more effective communication, faster information exchange, and more effective joint work
– said Gabriella Gömöri.
In the building, several offices and a meeting room were created for the department, where the mandatory infection control training for new health workers takes place in modern conditions.
The Department of Hospital Hygiene of the University of Debrecen carries out its activities at two locations, the Nagyerdei and Kenézy Gyula Campuses, and operates the August central sterilizer.
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