Healthcare-related infections in an intensive care unit

Abstract

Background: healthcare-related infections are a problem for the patient’s security and can be used as quality indicators of the care process.Objective: to characterize, clinically and epidemiologically, the healthcare-related infections, at the intensive care unit of “Leon Cuervo Rubio” General Teaching Hospital from Pinar del Río in 2015.Methods: a descriptive and retrospective study was carried out at the place and during the time herein mentioned. The universe was made up of the 156 patients who developed a nosocomial infection after 48 hours of admission. The following variables were measured: age, sex, localization, microbiology, mortality, sensitivity and antimicrobial resistance. Data were obtained from the patients’ medical histories.Results: patients older than 60 years and belonging to the male sex were the most affected ones. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (32,2 %) and ventilator-non-associated pneumonia were the most frequent infections. Escherichia coli were present in 35,7 % of the samples. Mortality was 65,4 %. The sensitivity pattern for Escherichia coli showed 76,5 % for piperacillin/tazobactam, followed by meropenem with 72,3 % and amikacin with 61,4 %. Third and fourth-generation cephalosporin was the most resistance antimicrobial group in more than 65 %.Conclusions: the clinical and epidemiological variables of the healthcare-related infections in the study population were characterized.

Keywords

• delivery of health care
• cross infection
• critical care.