Hospital-acquired infection

How it is used

Also called a nosocomial infection, and part of the wider group of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs or HCAIs). Infection control teams track rates such as surgical site infections, and managers see them as both a safety and a cost issue.

Example sentences

1. Each hospital-acquired infection adds several days to the patient's stay.

2. Hospital-acquired infections in intensive care fell after the hand hygiene campaign.

Common collocations

• hospital-acquired infection rate
• prevent hospital-acquired infections
• infection control team
• healthcare-associated infection

Related terms

• patient safetyThe prevention of avoidable harm to patients during care, through safe systems, clear procedures and a culture of learning from mistakes.
• adverse eventAn unintended event during healthcare that harms a patient and is caused by the care given rather than by the patient's illness.
• complianceActing in line with laws, regulations, standards and internal policies, and the work of checking and proving that this happens.
• length of stayThe number of days a patient spends in hospital from admission to discharge; the average across many patients is a key efficiency measure.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• hospital-acquired infection · Nursing

More terms: Patient Safety and Risk

• incident report
• near miss
• medication error
• root cause analysis
• informed consent
• never event
• risk assessment
• safety culture