Healthcare-associate infections

master's thesis

• Author: Frederic Maximilian Eysell
• Mentor: Zrinka Bošnjak (mentor)
• Committee member: Ana Budimir (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Goran Tešović (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Zrinka Bošnjak (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; School of Medicine; Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2016-09-28, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE; Clinical Medical Sciences; Infectology

Abstract

Healthcare-associated infections affect over 4 million patients in Europe each year.
The European Center for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) has taken many
steps tp improve patient care by collecting surveillance data across Europe to identify
key areas and improve educational material for healthcare workers and patients. But
the ECDC has undergone major structural changes in the last two decades, which
have impacted its modus operandi and reach. These changes make it challenging to
review the data available.
The European prevalence of healthcare-associated infections seems to be around
7.6% and the most common HCAIs were Pneumonia, surgical site infections, urinary
tract infections and bloodstream infections, with a 90th percentile rate of deviceassociation.
Especially in the ICU infection rates are dramatically high, with 20% of
patients acquiring an infection. The high HCAI prevalence in ICUs can be explained
by poor adherence to hygiene guidelines and the frequent usage of invasive devices,
which significantly increases the risk of acquiring an infection. While the overall rate
of surgical-site infection is decreasing, colon surgery has still the highest incidence of
SSI and a reduction of infections in colon surgery has to be a prime concern with the
solution eventually being set forth in some of the national guidelines.
There are plenty of areas where prevention programmes can be put in place and
maybe it requires stronger policies to drastically reduce infection rates, especially in
ICUs.
Unfortunately, the data about HCAIs in long-term care facilities were too poor to yield
conclusive results on a European level.
But the number of national and international prevention programmes is increasing;
especially in the light of increasing antimicrobial resistance, it is realized that
improved prevention and guidelines for the use of antibiotics is preferableto waiting
for a novel antibiotic to “save the day”.

• Keywords: healthcare-associated infection; ECDC; antimicrobial; surveillance; prevention
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:105:123933
• Study programme: Title: Medicine (in English language); Study programme type: university; Study level: integrated undergraduate and graduate; Academic / professional title: doktor/doktorica medicine (doktor/doktorica medicine)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2017-08-30 08:02:38