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What is Healthcare associated Pneumonia
Healthcare associated pneumonia is a lung infection that a person can get when in a health care setting or during certain procedures. The infection causes air sacs inside the lungs to fill with pus or fluid.
Healthcare-associated pneumonia is usually caused by bacteria that are common in health care settings. These bacteria may be resistant to some antibiotic medicines.
What are the causes?
This condition is caused by bacteria that get into your lungs. You can get this condition if you:
- Breathe in droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze.
- Touch something that an infected person coughed or sneezed on and then touch your mouth, nose, or eyes.
- Have a bacterial infection somewhere else in your body, if the bacteria spread to your lungs through your blood.
What increases the risk?
This condition is more likely to develop in people who:
- Have a disease that weakens their body’s defense system (immune system) or their ability to cough out germs.
- Are older than age 65.
- Having trouble swallowing.
- Use a feeding or breathing tube.
- Have a cold or the flu.
- Have an IV tube inserted in a vein.
- Have surgery.
- Have a bed sore.
- Live in a long-term care facility, such as a nursing home.
- Were in the hospital for two or more days in the past 3 months.
- Received hemodialysis in the past 30 days.
What are the signs or symptoms?
Symptoms of this condition include:
- Fever.
- Chills.
- Cough.
- Shortness of breath.
- Wheezing or crackling sounds when breathing.
How is this diagnosed?
This condition may be diagnosed based on:
- Your symptoms.
- A chest X-ray.
- A measurement of the amount of oxygen in your blood.
How is this treated?
This condition is treated with antibiotics. Your health care provider may take a sample of cells (culture) from your throat to determine what type of bacteria is in your lungs and change your antibiotic based on the results. If you have bacteria in your blood, trouble breathing, or a low oxygen level, you may need to be treated at the hospital. At the hospital, you will be given antibiotics through an IV tube. You may also be given oxygen or breathing treatments.
Follow these instructions at home:
Medicine
- Take your antibiotic medicine as told by your health care provider. Do not stop taking the antibiotic even if you start to feel better.
- Take over-the-counter and other prescription medicines only as told by your health care provider.
Activity
- Rest at home until you feel better.
- Return to your normal activities as told by your health care provider. Ask your health care provider what activities are safe for you.
General instructions
- Drink enough fluid to keep your urine clear or pale yellow.
- Do not use any products that contain nicotine or tobacco, such as cigarettes and e-cigarettes. If you need help quitting, ask your health care provider.
- Limit alcohol intake to no more than 1 drink per day for nonpregnant women and 2 drinks per day for men. One drink equals 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine, or 1½ oz of hard liquor.
- Keep all follow-up visits as told by your health care provider. This is important.
How is this prevented?
Actions that I can take
To lower your risk of getting this condition again:
- Do not smoke. This includes e-cigarettes.
- Do not drink too much alcohol.
- Keep your immune system healthy by eating well and getting enough sleep.
- Get a flu shot every year (annually).
- Get a pneumonia vaccination if:
- You are older than age 65.
- You smoke.
- You have a long-lasting condition like lung disease.
- Exercise your lungs by taking deep breaths, walking, and using an incentive spirometer as directed.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water. If you cannot get to a sink to wash your hands, use an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
- Make sure your health care providers are washing their hands. If you do not see them wash their hands, ask them to do so.
- When you are in a health care facility, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
- Avoid touching any surface near where people have coughed or sneezed.
- Stand away from sick people when they are coughing or sneezing.
- Wear a mask if you cannot avoid exposure to people who are sick.
- Clean all surfaces often with a disinfectant cleaner, especially if someone is sick at home or work.
Precautions of my health care team
Hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities take special care to try to prevent healthcare-associated pneumonia. To do this, your health care team may:
- Clean their hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based hand sanitizer before and after seeing patients.
- Wear gloves or masks during treatment.
- Sanitize medical instruments, tubes, other equipment, and surfaces in patient rooms.
- Raise (elevate) the head of your hospital bed so you are not lying flat. The head of the bed may be elevated 30 degrees or more.
- Have you sit up and move around as soon as possible after surgery.
- Only insert a breathing tube if needed.
- Do these things for you if you have a breathing tube:
- Clean the inside of your mouth regularly.
- Remove the breathing tube as soon as it is no longer needed.
Contact a health care provider if:
- Your symptoms do not get better or they get worse.
- Your symptoms come back after you have finished taking your antibiotics.
Get help right away if:
- You have trouble breathing.
- You have confusion or difficulty thinking.