Modern Trends in Infection Control Practices in Intensive Care Units

Abstract

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are common in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. There has been an increasing effort to prevent HAIs, and infection control practices are paramount in avoiding these complications. In the last several years, numerous developments have been seen in the infection prevention strategies in various health care settings. This article reviews the modern trends in infection control practices to prevent HAIs in ICUs with a focus on methods for monitoring hand hygiene, updates in isolation precautions, new methods for environmental cleaning, antimicrobial bathing, prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia, central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and Clostridium difficile infection.

One Hundred and Fourteen Days of Somatic Support in a Severely Brain Injured Pregnant Woman: Case Report and Review of the Literature

“…Nonetheless, the potential source and type of infection should be aggressively investigated. As with most intensive care type patients, urinary tract infection and pneumonia are the most common infections [54]. These morbidities affected our patient.…”

Use of a Central Catheter Maintenance Bundle in Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals

“…Evidence supports a central catheter maintenance bundle that is associated with the most likely sources of colonization during central catheter maintenance, including patients' skin and health care workers' hands, appropriate use of disinfectants, daily review of central catheter necessity, and strict processes for changes of dressing, tubing, and end caps. 15,16 The central catheter maintenance bundle used in this study was adapted from the CDC's Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections, 2011. 17 In addition to a CLABSI prevention bundle based on evidence-based practices to reduce the incidence of infections, a multidisciplinary team was developed for infection prevention and control, and a checklist was used to track bundle compliance.…”

Ventilator-associated events prevention, learning lessons from the past: A systematic review

“…The campaign aimed at improving patient safety and outcomes by implementing a prevention bundle, known as the IHI ventilator bundle; and which included four preventive measures (1) head of bed (HOB) elevation above 30 , (2) Daily sedation vacation and readiness to wean assessment, (3) peptic ulcer disease (PUD) prophylaxis, and (4) deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis. 5,17 Of these reviewed articles, 13 (59%) were conducted in a multicenter setting and 9 studies (41%) in a single institution. Studies were geographically distributed between developed and developing countries, with a majority of the publications (n ¼ 8) in the USA.…”

“…With an added cost per episode of more than twice that of a central line-associated bloodstream infection and ten times that of an episode of catheter-associated urinary tract or Clostridium Difficile infection. 17 During the first week of mechanical ventilation, patients are at highest risk of acquiring VAP with risk rates of approximately 3% per day. 18 A potentially growing burden of VAP is to be anticipated in the future, as a consequence of population aging.…”

“…VAP preventive measures are numerous and some remain controversial. 5,17 This manuscript will provide a two-faceted overview on the preventive efforts aiming to improve the quality and safety of the mechanically ventilated population over the last decade. First, we will provide a summary of the studies that incorporated VAP preventive bundles and evaluated their effect on patient outcomes.…”