Staphylococcus aureus healthcare associated bacteraemia: An indicator of catheter related infections.

Purpose: Surveillance of preventable healthcare associated infections and feedback of the results to clinicians is central in the efforts to improve performance. We assessed Staphylococcus aureus healthcare associated bloodstream infection (HA-BSI) as an indicator of healthcare quality.

Patients And Method: Between 2002 and 2012, we carried out a ten-year prospective bedside surveillance of S. aureus healthcare associated bacteraemia in a 940-bed university hospital using standard definitions.

Results: Overall, 2784 HA-BSI were identified during the study period, among which 573 (18%) were due to S. aureus. Among these 573 S. aureus bacteraemias, 189 originated from intravascular catheters (32.8%) of which 84% (158/189) in patients outside intensive care units. The proportion of catheter related HA-BSI due to S. aureus was 56% (61/109) in PVC-related HA-BSI and 34% (103/301) in CVC-related HA-BSI. A sharp decrease of PVC-related HA-BSI from 20 to 7 per year was obtained during the same period.

Conclusion: In our experience, S. aureus HA-BSI is a simple and useful indicator of catheter associated infections, and therefore of healthcare quality, especially in units not covered by other type of surveillance.