Dangerous Risk if You Often Go to the Hospital for Outpatient | Good Doctor

When you are sick, you will definitely go straight to the doctor to find out the cause and treat it, right? When the examination is complete, the doctor will immediately determine whether it is enough to do outpatient treatment or need to be hospitalized.

Usually, patients who are allowed to be outpatient have physical conditions and illnesses that are not too severe. So that it can be handled with simple home remedies, but still under the supervision of the doctor on duty.

But did you know that frequent visits to the hospital are also dangerous? It can even be infected with diseases in the hospital, one of which is nosocomial infection. Here’s the full explanation.

Bava Also: Complete Outpatient Treatment: Definition, Benefits and Types of Services

What is a nosocomial infection?

Launch WebMD, nosocomial infection is an infection that can attack someone while in the hospital. It is also referred to as hospital-acquired infection or health-care associated infection.‌

This condition occurs because many people are in the hospital, both from patients to medical nurses, where they carry germs and transmit them to one another. Please note that sometimes, a person can carry germs without feeling sick, so they pass it on to other people without knowing.

Especially if you are in the hospital for surgery or treatment of another disease, then the immune system may become weak against germs. This also causes nosocomial infections to arise and makes you sick just 48 hours after entering the hospital.

Transmission of these germs can occur in various hospitals. If not treated promptly, they can cause more serious health problems.

Symptoms of nosocomial infection

Nosocomial infections have different symptoms depending on the type. Here are some of the most common nosocomial infection symptoms:

• Have a fever
• Cough
• Experiencing extreme fatigue
• Sweating
• Muscle ache
• Nausea and vomiting.

Causes of nosocomial infections

Nosocomial infections are cause for concern because they are generally caused by bacteria that are more diverse and often resistant to antibiotics.

A study at the Enugu University pediatric outpatient clinic in Nigeria took samples from various locations in the clinic and found that 45 percent of the samples had bacterial growth. The most widely isolated bacteria are types Staphylococcus aureus and Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. Of all the Staphylococcus aureus isolates, 17.4 percent were of the MRSA type, or Staphyloccus aureus resistant to the antibiotic methicillin.

Apart from that, during the pandemic a high number of COVID-19 hospital clusters was also found, this is based on research conducted at the Veterans Affairs Health Care System, from 1 May 2020 to 31 January 2021, both in outpatient and inpatient conditions.

Then, how to prevent the transmission of nosocomial infections during outpatient visits to the hospital?

Doctors and medical nurses can prevent the spread of nosocomial infections by doing the following:

• Thoroughly disinfect skin and equipment
• Wash your hands frequently
• Wear personal protective equipment such as face masks and gloves
• Prescribe antibiotics only when needed.

Tips for not contracting the disease when visiting the hospital

According to the explanation Centers for Disease Control and Preventionthere are several things you can do to protect yourself from contracting the disease during a visit to the hospital:

• Make sure to always keep your hands clean, both yourself and friends and family. Remind them to clean their hands before touching anything.
• If you see that medical nurses don’t clean their hands, try to remind them to do it.
• Be vigilant when taking antibiotics, make sure you take them according to the recommended dosage from your doctor and only as needed.
• Recognize the signs and symptoms of infection. Some skin infections, such as MRSA, present as redness, pain, or drainage at the catheter insertion site. Respiratory tract infections are also often associated with nosocomial infections characterized by symptoms of cough, runny nose and/or fever
• Make sure you are vaccinated so you can prevent the spread of disease during a visit to the hospital.
• Be sure to cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough. When it does, germs can spread as far as 3 feet or more. So it’s a good idea to use a tissue to avoid spreading germs by hand.

Those are some tips to avoid illness when doing outpatient care to the hospital. So, the transmission of this nosocomial infection can occur due to several reasons which each person can vary depending on their condition. So you have to be more vigilant and make sure to always maintain cleanliness as an initial precaution.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to choose the right outpatient insurance product by considering whether it can be accessed online on line nor offline like facilities from Good Doctor. That way, you will no longer worry about contracting a disease because you can have outpatient consultations on line only through Good Doctor application.

Also read: Impact of Telemedicine on Outpatient Services for Employees

Protect your health with online and offline outpatient insurance, starting from IDR 100,000 / month. Click link it’s now to reap the benefits!