title: [The prevalence survey of nosocomial infections: a very informative tool in a big hospital setting].
abstract: In November 2001 a one-day prevalence survey of nosocomial infections (NI) was conducted in surgical and intensive care units at two hospitals in Rome. The main goal was to quantify the occurrence of NI and of some patient-care practices, such as antibiotic use. The following NI were studied: pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, surgical site infections (SSI), central line-related local infections. A total of 517 patients were included. The prevalence of the above mentioned NI was 6.6%. SSI were the most frequent NI (50%), with a prevalence of 6.5% in patients who underwent surgery; the SSI prevalence was 4.7% in clean surgical procedures (SP) and 5.6% in clean-contaminated SP. In 29 NI, 33 micro-organisms were isolated; the most frequent (24.3%) was Staphylococcus aureus, which was methicillin-resistant (MRSA) in 75% of the strains. On the day of the study, 41.8% of the patients were treated with antimicrobials, mainly aminopenicillins and third generation cephalosporins. In 31.8% of cases antibiotics were given for surgical prophylaxis; patients received prophylactic antibiotics more than 2 hours prior the initial incision in almost 40% of clean SP and 60% of clean-contaminated SP. In our hospitals prevalence survey was a very useful tool to identify the following priorities: SSI prospective surveillance in clean and clean-contaminated SP, control of MRSA selection and transmission, guidelines for antimicrobial prophylaxis in surgery.
authors.affiliation: Direzione Sanitaria Aziendale, Azienda Ospedaliera "San Camillo-Forlanini", Roma. sodanoluisa@libera.it
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sodano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faria
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Renzi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gabriele
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence