Publication:

Incidence of nosocomial infection in the pediatric intensive care unit of a teaching hospital delivering tertiary level care

Background Nosocomial infections are generally a chain of events whereby a source or reservoir of microorganisms is transmitted by some method to a susceptible host. The organisms causing infections can come from either the patient’s own endogenous flora or from external sources including hospital staff, equipment or even food, water, walls, floor, and some other surfaces.

Methods Children in age group of one month to twelve years are admitted to our PICU. All the patients admitted in PICU with PICU stay of more than 48 hours were daily monitored for fever or any other symptoms or sign suggestive of any infection. The patients who developed the same 48 hours after admission, which was not present at the time of admission, were included. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions of nosocomial infections, as described later, are used as criteria for diagnosis of infections.

Results During study period, 466 patients were admitted to PICU with their PICU stay for more than 48 hours. Out of 466 patients, 35 patients had 49 episodes of nosocomial infections. Nosocomial incidence rate = 10.51 per 100 admissions. Nosocomial infection incidence density = 19.37 per 1000 patient days.

Conclusions In patients with nosocomial infection, the mean PICU stay was 17.31 days and mean hospital stay was 23.95 days.