Infection control in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Healthcare-associated infection (HCAI), also known as nosocomial infection, is one of the main causes of adverse events in the neonate. Despite current infection control policies and practices and ongoing education programmes for healthcare workers, HCAI infection rates within the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) continue to increase, often with devastating results. This review of the literature aims to increase awareness of some of the many issues that contribute to high HCAI rates in the NICU, thereby highlighting many more interventions that can be carried out by the healthcare worker to reduce these rates. This literature review is limited because it considers only the contribution that healthcare workers make to HCAI rates.