Prevalence of Hospital Acquired Infections in a tertiary care hospital in India

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI), are a cause of prolonged hospital stay, are inconvenient for the patient, constitute an economic burden on health care and increase the mortality of hospitalised patients. The aim of this point prevalence study was to estimate the burden of various hospital acquired infections in our hospital and the major related risk factors for acquiring HAIs. This study helps to provide a standardised tool for hospitals to identify target areas for quality improvement. The HAI was defined according to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention standards. An overall HAI prevalence was 8.78% with highest in ICUs (33.3%) followed by paediatric wards (12.5%) and surgical wards (10.3%). Surgical procedures, mechanical ventilation, urinary catheters, or intravascular devices were independent risk factors for HAI. The most common HAI category was urinary tract infection followed by respiratory tract infections, and surgical site infection. The most frequently administered antibiotics were amoxicillin clavulanic acid, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, metronidazole and piperacillin-tazobactam. Most common organisms isolated were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii and Staphylococcus aureus. This study provides baseline information of HAIs and associated risk factors for future surveillance. Efforts are needed to strengthen Infection control programs, appropriate national strategies for prevention of HAIs, antibiotic stewardship and repeated prevalence studies in our institution in order to decrease the prevalence of HAI.