Survey of isolation practices at a tertiary care pediatric hospital.
BACKGROUND
Although isolation precautions are an important aspect of hospital infection control, current rates of isolation in a pediatric hospital and rates of compliance with established precautions are unknown. We therefore initiated hospital-wide point prevalence studies to determine unit-specific rates of patient isolation and compliance with proper isolation requirements focusing on communication of isolation status and availability of personal protective equipment. In this report, we present data from the first 14 months of the study.


METHODS
This was a prospective observational study. Twice monthly, between January 2004 and February 2005, infection control professionals reviewed the types and appropriateness of isolation of all hospitalized patients, except for those on the psychiatry unit.


RESULTS
Seventeen percent of patients in the hospital during the study period were isolated, most frequently for community-acquired infections. Droplet isolation precautions were the most common form of isolation. Overall, only 74.6% of patients were isolated appropriately. The solid organ transplantation, hematology/oncology, and bone marrow transplantation units were those with the highest rates of inappropriate isolation.


CONCLUSIONS
At our hospital, community-acquired infections, in particular respiratory infections, were the most common reasons for patient isolation. Monitoring of the appropriateness of isolation precautions offers the opportunity to reduce health care-related transmission of infection and identify specific target areas for improvement.
Vayalumkal
Joseph V
JV
Division of Infectious Diseases, The Hospital For Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Streitenberger
Laurie
L
Wray
Rick
R
Goldman
Carol
C
Freeman
Renee
R
Drews
Steven
S
Matlow
Anne
A
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000628:therapy; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003625:Data Collection; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017053:Infection Control / Q000592:standards*; D010356:Patient Isolation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012308:Risk Management