Incidence of healthcare associated infection in the surgical ICU of a tertiary care hospital.

Background: Healthcare associated infections (HAI) have taken on a new dimension with outbreaks of increasingly resistant organisms becoming common. Protocol-based infection control practices in the intensive care unit (ICU) are extremely important. Moreover, baseline information of the incidence of HAI helps in planning-specific interventions at infection control.

Methods: This hospital-based observational study was carried out from Dec 2009 to May 2010 in the 10-bedded surgical intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital. CDC HAI definitions were used to diagnose HAI.

Results: A total of 293 patients were admitted in the ICU. 204 of these were included in the study. 36 of these patients developed HAI with a frequency of 17.6%. The incidence rate (IR) of catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI) was 16/1000 Central Venous Catheter (CVC) days [95% C.I. 9-26]. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) 9/1000 urinary catheter days [95% C.I. 4-18] and ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAP) 32/1000 ventilator days [95% confidence interval 22-45].

Conclusion: The HAI rates in our ICU are less than other hospitals in developing countries. The incidence of VAP is comparable to other studies. Institution of an independent formal infection control monitoring and surveillance team to monitor & undertake infection control practices is an inescapable need in service hospitals.