Can Multiple Short-Term SunreiUances Replace Long-Term Sunreillance for Estimating Nosocomial Infection Rate?.
- Author:
Yong Kyun CHO
;
Sang Oh LEE
;
Shin Young PARK
;
Eun Sun LEE
;
Sue Yun KIM
;
Yiel Hae SEO
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Epidemiology;
Incidence;
Infection control;
Intensive care units;
Nosocomial infection
- MeSH:
Cross Infection*;
Epidemiology;
Humans;
Incidence;
Infection Control;
Intensive Care Units;
Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated;
Prospective Studies;
Urinary Tract Infections
- From:Korean Journal of Nosocomial Infection Control
2006;11(1):21-26
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: To determine whether multiple short-term surveillances are as effective as long-term surveillance for estimating the incidence rates of nosocomial infections (NIs), we prospectively performed 9-month surveillance in four intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS: NI surveillance was performed prospectively from November 2002 through July 2003, with long-term surveillance performed over the 9-month period, and short-term surveillance performed during the middle 3 weeks of each calendar quarter. The incidence rate of NIs or device-associated infections was calculated as the number of infections per 1,000 patient-days or device-days. RESULTS: We observed no significant differences between the incidence rates of total NIs determined from these two methods (9.6 [CI95 8.2-11.3] vs 10.4 [CI95 7.5-14.4], P=.66). In addition, these two methods did not differ significantly in estimating the rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia (5.1 [CI95 3.4-7.6] vs 7.5 [CI95 3.8-15.0], P=.35), catheter-associated urinary tract infection (2.4 [CI95 1.7-3.4] vs 1.7 [CI95 0.7-4.1], P=.47), and central line-associated bloodstream infection (2.2 [CI95 1.4-3.4] vs 3.7 [CI95 1.9-7.4], P=.21). Plotting of the NI rates showed that the trends in multiple short-term surveillances were similar to those in long-term surveillance, except in one ICU. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that multiple short-term surveillances could replace long-term surveillance in estimating the baseline incidence rates of NIs in the circumstances of the relatively large number of patients in the ICUs, which would be especially useful in countries with limited resources.
