• M J Corrales-Fernández, M T Gea-Velázquez de Castro, R Limón-Ramírez, J J Miralles-Bueno, J Requena-Puche, and J M Aranaz-Andrés.
• Servicio de Medicina Preventiva y Calidad Asistencial, Hospital Universitari Sant Joan d'Alacant, Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain. mcorrales@umh.es
• Rev Calid Asist. 2011 Nov 1;26(6):367-75.

ObjectiveTo determine the patient and medical care characteristics of Health Care-Associated Infections (HCAI) and to determine whether or not there are any differences between those that may be avoidable.MethodA retrospective cohort study, based on three Spanish cohort studies of Adverse Events associated with hospitalization. The medical records were reviewed to assess whether or not the health care was the causing factor of the HCAI. We carried out the analyses using the same methodology as the National Study on the Adverse Effects associated with hospitalization (ENEAS). After reviewing the patient medical records to identify the HCAI associated factors, the reviewers gave a valued judgment on how likely the health care was the cause of the infection (HCAI) and whether there was evidence that they could have been avoided.ResultsA total of 2.3% the patients in the study had one or more HCAI, with 60.2% of them being avoidable. The patients who had an HCAI were older and had a greater number of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors. There was a significant difference in the presence of some intrinsic risk factor between patients who had an HCAI and those with an avoidable HCAI, but there were no differences as regards medical care extrinsic risk factors. The factors that best explained the HCAI were different for each one of the most common infection locations. Generally, the factors which best explained the HCAI were: urinary catheter (OR=2.4), nasogastric tube (OR=1.9) or central venous catheter (OR=1.8). Similarly, hospital admissions through a surgery department or a hospital stay longer than a week were identified as main factors, (OR=1.6), (OR=7.5), respectively. The best strategies to avoid an HCAI were: proper management of any aseptic technique and use of catheter (25.5%), a proper follow-up of the bladder catheterisation protocols (20%) and a proper health care follow-up of vulnerable patients (16.5%).ConclusionPatients with an HCAI showed significant different characteristics from those who did not have an HCAI. The preventability is an independent valued judgment from the causality, and is associated to whether the proper protocol has been implemented or not. To identify these weaknesses enables us to establish strategies to improve the quality of medical care.Copyright © 2011 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

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