Hospital-acquired infection

How it is used

Also called 'healthcare-associated infection' (HCAI or HAI) or, more technically, 'nosocomial infection'. Common examples are catheter-related urine infections, line infections, surgical site infections and C. difficile. Infection control teams monitor them closely.

Example sentences

1. Good hand hygiene is the simplest way to prevent hospital-acquired infections.

2. Her pneumonia started on day five of her stay, so it's being treated as a hospital-acquired infection.

Common collocations

• prevent hospital-acquired infections
• rate of hospital-acquired infection
• reduce hospital-acquired infections

Related terms

• hand hygieneCleaning your hands with soap and water or an alcohol hand rub to remove germs and stop them spreading between patients.
• MRSAShort for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: a type of bacteria that many common antibiotics cannot kill and that can cause infections, especially in hospitals.
• isolationKeeping a patient apart from others, usually in a single room with extra precautions, to stop an infection spreading or to protect a patient with weak immunity.
• urinary catheterA thin, flexible tube passed into the bladder, usually through the urethra, to drain urine into a bag.
• aseptic techniqueA set of working methods that stops germs from getting into a wound, a vein or another part of the body during a procedure.

This word in other fields

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

• hospital-acquired infection · Healthcare Management

More terms: Infection Control

• PPE
• sterile
• sharps bin
• needlestick injury
• clinical waste