EPIDEMIOLOGY, ETIOLOGY AND MONITORING OF INTRAHOSPITAL INFECTIONS IN THE SURGICAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Amer Custovic, Mirsad Babovic, Fejzo Dzafic

Abstract


Introduction: Intrahospital infections (IHI) are frequent occurence in modern hospitals. These infections are recognized as a significant public-health problem in the industrial developed countries, as well as in countries in developing. Material and Methods: The main goal of this study was establish epidemiological monitoring of the occurence of IHI in the surgical intensive care unit at a University clinical center Tuzla (UCC), in order to define: type of IHI according to the anatomic localisation and causative agents of IHI. A during 2002. and 2003. there were 1751 patients treated in the surgical intensive care unit. The study examination was conducted by using the method of National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) from the United States of America. Results and Discussion: The results of study are confirming expectations that the intensive care units are in high risk for the occurence of IHI. We have also proved certain distribution differences of IHI related to anatomic localization. At 2002. the urinary tract infections were the most frequent (35.21%), than surgical site infections (22.54%), bloodstream infections (17.61%), respiratory tract infections (9.15%) and other infections (15.49%)(p< .01). At 2003. the urinary tract infections represented 32.35% all of IHI, surgical site infections also represented 32.35%, followed by bloodstream infections (16.18%), respiratory tract infections (7.35%) and other infections (11.76%)(p< .001). In both years of study the most frequent organisms as a causative agents of IHI were Enterobacteriaceae (Klebsiella pneumoniae- 24.5% and 16.1%; Proteus mirabilis- 7.9% and 14.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23.1% and 16.9%) and Acinetobacter species (14% and 17.3%)(p< .001). Conclusion: It is expected that the continuous surveillance of IHI will improve the quality of work at the UCC-Tuzla, which lead to the improvement of patients treatment and decrease of material costs.

Keywords


Intrahospital infections; monitoring; surgical intensive care unit

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DOI: 10.5457/ams.v37i1.68