Chlorhexidine gluconate bathing of adult patients in intensive care units in São Paulo, Brazil: Impact on the incidence of healthcare-associated infection.

Background: There is an increasing use of daily chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing to decrease healthcare associated infections (HAI). Daily bathing of patients with CHG has been successfully used to prevent multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) HAI in intensive care units (ICU).

Methods: This was a 12-month, single-center, open, cluster randomized trial, conducted at four ICUs of the University Hospital of Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Unifesp, Brazil.