Hospital-acquired infection

Hospital-acquired infection (HAI) — also known as nosocomial infection — is an infection that is contracted from the environment or staff of a healthcare facility. It can be spread in the hospital environment, nursing home environment, rehabilitation facility, clinic,or other clinical settings. Infection is spread to the susceptible patient in the clinical setting by a number of means. Health care staff can spread infection, in addition to contaminated equipment, bed linens, or air droplets. The infection can originate from the outside environment, another infected patient, staff that may be infected, or in some cases, the source of the infection cannot be determined. In some cases the microorganism originates from the patient's own skin microbiota, becoming opportunistic after surgery or other procedures that compromise the protective skin barrier. Though the patient may have contracted the infection from their own skin, the infection is still considered nosocomial since it develops in the health care setting.