title: [Prevalence study of nosocomial infections in university hospitals in the Czech Republic].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In 2005-2010, a nosocomial infection prevalence study was conducted in 12 university hospitals, namely at the departments of surgery, urology, neurology, cardiology, neurosurgery, otorhinolaryngology, and traumatology. The primary objective was to evaluate the overall epidemiological situation of nosocomial infections (NI) at the highest risk departments of selected healthcare facilities in the Czech Republic and to characterize the NI detected.
  
  
  METHODS
  To collect data, a questionnaire survey method was used, as it suited the routine operation conditions in healthcare facilities and was inexpensive, easy to understand, reproducible, and repeatable if needed. The questionnaire was designed according to the protocol recommended by the working group HELICS (Hospital in Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance). In each of the participating hospitals, the medical records of all patients hospitalized at the respective departments were analyzed. The patient data, hospitalization data, potential risk factors, and occurrence of hospital infection, if any, were derived from the medical records and entered in the questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, data on 1889 hospitalized patients were analyzed. Eighty-one confirmed NI cases were found, i.e. the prevalence rate in this study was 4.3% (the percentage of HI per the number of hospitalized patients), which is in agreement with the recent data reported in the European Union. The most common causative agents were Pseudomonas spp. (16%), Staphylococcus aureus (15%), Escherichia coli (12%), Proteus spp. (10%), and Klebsiella spp. (4%), with the urinary tract (41%) and respiratory tract (23%) being affected most often.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smetana
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Čečetková
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chlíbek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D017053:Infection Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult