Nosocomial infections in an intensive care unit in a private hospital

The nosocomial infection rate in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital was assessed during an 18-month survey. From 629 admissions to the ICU, 139 hospital-acquired infections were identified. The rate was 22.1% compared to the overall nosocomial infection rate of 15.3% for the entire hospital. In the ICU, the main infections occurred in the respiratory tract, 41 (29.5%), followed by surgical wounds, 35 (25.2%), urinary tract, 28 (20.1%) and the blood stream, 24 (17.3%). From 165 bacterial isolates, 80% of isolates were gram-negative rods, with P aeruginosa, 48 (36.6%), being the predominant gram-negative isolate followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae, 27 (20.6%), and Enterobacter sp, 22 (16.8%). The main gram-positive isolates were S aureus, 23 (41.8%), coagulase-negative Staphylococci, 17 (30.9%), and Enterococci, 11 (20.0%). Of the 23 S aureus strains, 15 (65.2%) were methicillin-resistant (MRSA), (8 MRSA were from surgical wounds, 5 from the respiratory tract and 2 from infected urine). Only 2 of the 17 (11.8%) coagulase-negative staphylococci were methicillin-resistant, and both were isolated from wounds. Resistance to ampicillin and augmentin (amoxicillin-clavulanic acid) was high, 81.9% and 55.4%, respectively. Gentamicin, aztreonam, piperacillin and piperacillin-tazobactam showed resistance rates of less than 15%. Infection control measures aimed at reducing nosocomial infections at the hospital are often frustrated by apathy of hospital administrators who apparently are insensitive to the high nosocomial infection rate. Effort by the infection control team through seminars, lectures and newsletters have begun to show improvements in attitude and awareness of staff to infection control and preventative measures within the institution.