By Alice Etuka, Abuja
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published the first global guidelines to prevent the occurrence of bloodstream and other infections caused by use of catheters placed in minor blood vessels during medical procedures.
WHO announced the development in a statement issued on Thursday, May 9, 2024.
TheFact Daily gathered that a catheter is a tubular medical device for insertion into canals, vessels, passageways, or body cavities for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes (as to permit injection or withdrawal of fluids or to keep a passage open).
According to the global health body, poor practices in the insertion, maintenance, and removal of catheters carry a high risk of introducing germs directly to the bloodstream, which can lead to serious conditions such as sepsis, and difficult-to-treat complications in major organs like the brain and kidneys. Soft tissue infections at the insertion site of the catheter can also occur.
It noted that, up to 70% of all inpatients require the use of a catheter inserted into a peripheral vein or artery, also known as peripherally inserted catheters (PIVCs), at some point during their hospital stay.
In addition, people who receive treatments through catheters often are particularly vulnerable to infections, as they might be seriously ill or have low immunity.
WHO estimated that between 2000–2018, average mortality among patients affected by health care-associated sepsis was 24.4%, increasing to 52.3% among patients treated in intensive care units.
It further disclosed that many bloodstream infections were caused by antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. It is estimated that bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was directly responsible for at least 1.27 million deaths and contributed to an additional 4.95 million deaths in 2019.
On his part, WHO Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage, Life Course, Dr. Bruce Aylward stated that, implementating clean care and infection prevention and control recommendations was critical to saving lives:
“Infections associated with health care delivery represent a preventable tragedy and a serious threat to the quality and safety of health care.
“Implementing clean care and infection prevention and control recommendations is critical to saving lives and alleviating a great deal of avoidable suffering experienced by people around the world”, he said.
The new guidelines include 14 good practice statements and 23 recommendations on key areas for health workers, including:Education and training of health workerstechniques of asepsis and hand hygiene practices.
Insertion, maintenance, access, removal of catheters, and catheter selection.
