Two of the more common strategies for optimizing antimicrobial therapy in the intensive care unit (ICU) are antibiotic cycling and de-escalation. Antibiotic cycling involves scheduled replacement of 1 or more antibiotics with another for a period of time, in order to avoid the development or control the rate of bacterial resistance. The data to support antibiotic cycling are sparse; its practic...

abstract background: critical care patients are at higher risk for untreated pain. pain has persistent and untreated effects on most of the body systems and results in development of complications, chronic pain, and increased length of stay. the aim of this study was to determine the effects of the implementation of a pain management program on the length of stay in patients with decreased leve...

We analyzed data from the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) System from 1986-2003 to determine the epidemiology of gram-negative bacilli in intensive care units (ICUs) for the most frequent types of hospital-acquired infection: pneumonia, surgical site infection (SSI), urinary tract infection (UTI), and bloodstream infection (BSI). We analyzed >410,000 bacterial isolates associ...

OBJECTIVE To determine device-associated infection (DAI) rates, and the microbiological and antibiotic resistance profiles of infecting pathogens in our hospital. METHODS Prospective surveillance of healthcare-associated infections was performed from January 2007 to March 2010 in 4 different intensive care units (ICUs) of SB Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Tur...

OBJECTIVES Vancomycin resistance is due to change in ligase enzyme that destroys the binding of the drug. The gold standard is culture; but now molecular methods have also been developed. The aim was to detect the VRE rate at ICUs by culture and BD GeneOhm™ VanR and compare the results of both assays. METHODOLOGY 135 perianal swabs were taken from the patients at ICUs between January 1(st) 20...

Intensive care units (ICUs) are specialist where critically ill patients cared for, staffed by a health workforce. With the nursing profession currently undergoing major changes, both in practice and education, there several factors that affecting workforce globally. As result of natural attrition, nurses leaving which has resulted an absolute critical skills scarcity. This article highlights s...

Objective. The purpose of this study is to collect data on epidemiology, microbiology, and outcome of VAP in our ICUs for reevaluation of the therapeutic strategies. Methods. This retrospective study involved all adult patients, 15 years of age or older, diagnosed with VAP in multidisciplinary ICUs at Hamad General Hospital between January 2010 and December 2012. Results. A total of 106 patient...

Introduction: The Gram-negative emerged an important nosocomial pathogen, especially in intensive care units. These bacteria are cause of health infections, specifically in intensive care units (ICUs). Recent reports present an increase in acinetobacters resistance to carbapenems. This study set out to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of car...

Antimicrobial resistance is increasing in nearly all health-care-associated pathogens. We examined changes in resistance prevalence during 1996-1999 in 23 hospitals by using two statistical methods. When the traditional chi-square test of pooled mean resistance prevalence was used, most organisms appear to have increased in prevalence. However, when a more conservative test that accounts for ch...