title: Survey of isolation practices at a tertiary care pediatric hospital.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, The Hospital For Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Joseph V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Vayalumkal
authors.forename: Laurie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Streitenberger
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wray
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Drews
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matlow
mesh_terms: 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