The Rate of Nosocomial Infections Is Often Relatively High in Emergency

question 60

Multiple Choice

The rate of nosocomial infections is often relatively high in emergency room settings. Explain the most likely reason why this might be so.

• A) Often, the most acutely ill or most traumatically-injured individuals are found in emergency rooms. The combination of these two groups can lead to very easy spread of infectious agents into exposed tissues/organs of individuals in such physical locations.
• B) Emergency rooms are inherently less sterile than other areas of hospitals due to the speed of the treatments. Speed becomes the desired trait over cleanliness during the response.
• C) Emergency rooms are inherently less sterile than other areas of hospitals due to the large number of homeless people/drug addicts/prostitutes that seek treatment in these locations.
• D) Patients brought into emergency rooms are often brought in by ambulances/EMTs. These individuals are less cautious with universal protocols for protection of both themselves and patients than physicians are.

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Definitions:

Inelastic

This refers to a lack of sensitivity in the quantity demanded or supplied when the price changes.

Elastic

Describes a situation in economics where the demand or supply for a good or service significantly changes in response to a change in price.

Substitute Goods

Products or services that can be used in place of one another, with their demand being inversely related: as the price of one rises, the demand for the other increases.

Margarine

A butter substitute made from vegetable oils or animal fats, often used in cooking or as a spread.