Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Jul 2007
Microbiology of ventilator-associated pneumonia compared with that of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
Nosocomial pneumonia is the leading cause of mortality attributed to nosocomial infection. Appropriate empirical therapy has been associated with improved survival, but data are limited regarding the etiologic agents of hospital-acquired pneumonia in nonventilated patients (HAP). This evaluation assessed whether the currently recommended empirical therapy is appropriate for both ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and HAP by evaluating the infecting flora. ⋯ Our data demonstrated that patients with HAP, compared with those with VAP, had a similar frequency of infection with ORSA but less commonly had infections due to P. aeruginosa, Acinetobacter species, and S. maltophilia. However, the overall frequency of infection with these pathogens was sufficiently high to warrant the use of empirical therapy likely to be active against them. Our data supports using the currently recommended empirical therapy for both HAP and VAP.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Jul 2007
Effectiveness of multifaceted hospitalwide quality improvement programs featuring an intervention to remove unnecessary urinary catheters at a tertiary care center in Thailand.
To evaluate the efficacy of a multifaceted hospitalwide quality improvement program that featured an intervention to remind physicians to remove unnecessary urinary catheters. ⋯ This study suggests that a multifaceted intervention to remind physicians to remove unnecessary urinary catheters can significantly reduced the duration of urinary catheterization and the CA-UTI rate in a hospital in a developing country.