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802 EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NOSOCOMICAL INFECTION IN BURN PATIENTS AND THE EFFICACY OF THE INFECTION CONTROL PROGRAM AT THE BURN UNIT – CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL 1

Sunday, March 21, 2010
Grand Hall (Hyatt Regency Atlanta)
T. Thanh Ha Nguyen, MD , Infection Control Department, Children Hospital No1, Infection Control Society, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Chi Thuong Tang, MD , Pediatric Department, Children Hospital No1, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Nguyen Thanh Hung, MD , Pediatric Department, Children Hospital No1, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Nguyen Bao Tuong, MD , Burn Unit, Children Hospital No1, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Le Hong Dung, MD , Infection Control Department, Children Hospital No1, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Background: Nosocomial infections in burn patients has been always a concern of clinicians. Many measures have been introduced to reduce the risk and improve the quality of care for these patients. A retrospective analytical study has been performed at the Burn Unit – Children’s Hospital 1, following a program of improving quality of care with the main aim to reduce nosocomial infections which has been applied for many years in the hospital.

Objective: The study aimed to initially assess the epidemiological characteristics of nosocomial infections on burn patients, the risk factors and the efficacy of the process of implicating the improved measures for infection control such as improving the inpatient environment for burn patients, the bathing techniques and changing dressings,  the supply equipments for hand washing and antiseptic liquids and alcoholic hand rubs for health care staff and patient’s family, supervising the hand washing patterns of health care staff and family members, the antibiotic use and the cleaning and sterilizing process for burns equipments.

Methods: Retrospective study

Results: After 8 years of persistent effort of maintaining the infection control program at the burn unit, the nosoomial infection rate in the burn unit has been reduced from 20 cases/1000 inpatient days to 7 cases/ 1000 inpatient days and mortality in burn patients is significantly decreased from 2,3% to 0,4%. The common pathogens for nosocomial infections in the unit, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter have been significantly reduced. There is a reduction on the length of stay and antibiotic use. The average hospital stay was reduced from 16 days to 13 days, the number of expensive antibiotics reduced. As a consequence, there was a significant reduction of health care cost for the patients  and the hospital.

Conclusions: The efficacy of the infection control is unarguable. The main question is how to maintain and continuously improve this program for better inpatient quality of care