Abstract:

Background: The prevalence of healthcare associated infection (HAI) is generally higher in countries with limited resources than developed countries. To address the high prevalence of HAI, Turkish Ministry of Health introduced a national infection control program in 2005.

Methods: Device associated (DA)-HAIs routinely surveyed included ventilator associated events (VAE), urinary catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and central line associated blood stream infection (CLABSI). Rates in DA-HAI were examined from 2008 to 2017 by type of hospitals, bed capacity and geographic location of hospitals.

Results: All DA-HAIs declined significantly from 2008 to 2017 nationally for VAE from 16.69 to 4.86 per 1000 device days (IRR=0.29, p<0.0001), CAUTI from 4.98 to 1.59 per 1000 catheter days (IRR=0.31, p<0.0001) and CLABSI from 5.65 to 2.82 per 1000 catheter days (IRR=0.47, p<0.0001). The rates for DA-HAIs declined significantly in hospitals with ≥200 beds and <200 bed capacity and in all four type of hospitals. By 2017 all DA-HAI had significantly improved across all regions.

Conclusions: The introduction of a new national surveillance system supported by a national infection control program has significantly reduced three major DA-HAIs that are associated with risk of treatment failure and death. The next critical step in sustaining this crucial improvement will require timely feedback to hospitals using technology and continued buy-in from clinicians for their commitment to safety associated with DA-HAIs using aspirational DA-HAI rates.

Reference:

Gozel MG, Hekimoglu CH, Gozel EY, Batir E, McLaws ML, Mese EA. National infection control program in Turkey: The healthcare associated infection rate experiences over 10 Years. Am J Infect Control. 2020 Dec 24:S0196-6553(20)31067-1. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.12.013. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33359550.