Abstract
Infections in the critically ill patients are challenging and increasing length of stay in ICU, subsequent morbidity, and mortality. It is widely recognized that all patients in ICU are prone to develop infections, both because of the severity of illness and treatments’ invasiveness. A prevalence study [1] found a 51% prevalence of infection in ICU patients, with lungs being the most frequent site of infection (64%), followed by the abdomen, bloodstream, and urinary tract. Several factors increase the risk of infection for ICU patients (including length of stay, mechanical ventilation, medical or emergency surgery admission), and infection by itself is related to increased mortality and ICU and hospital length of stay. The infection prevalence varies significantly between continents and appears to be higher when the percentage of gross domestic product devoted to healthcare systems is low.
References
Vincent JL, Rello J, Marshall J, Silva E, Anzueto A, Martin CD, Moreno R, Lipman J, Gomersall C, Sakr Y, Reinhart K, EPIC II Group of Investigators. International study of the prevalence and outcomes of infection in intensive care units. JAMA. 2009;302(21):2323–9.
Peres Bota D, Mélot C, Lopes Ferreira F, Vincent JL. Infection probability score (IPS): a method to help assess the probability of infection in critically ill patients. Crit Care Med. 2003;31(11):2579–84. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.CCM.0000094223.92746.56.
Apostolopoulou E, Raftopoulos V, Terzis K, Elefsiniotis I. Infection probability score, APACHE II and KARNOFSKY scoring systems as predictors of bloodstream infection onset in hematology-oncology patients. BMC Infect Dis. 2010;10:135. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-10-135.
Safavi M, Honarmand A. Comparison of infection probability score, APACHE II, and APACHE III scoring systems in predicting need for ventilator and ventilation duration in critically ill patients. Arch Iran Med. 2007;10(3):354–60. https://doi.org/07103/AIM.0014.
Martini A, Gottin L, Mélot C, Vincent JL. A prospective evaluation of the infection probability score (IPS) in the intensive care unit. J Infect. 2008;56(5):313–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2008.02.015.
Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour CW, Shankar-Hari M, Annane D, Bauer M, Bellomo R, Bernard GR, Chiche JD, Coopersmith CM, Hotchkiss RS, Levy MM, Marshall JC, Martin GS, Opal SM, Rubenfeld GD, van der Poll T, Vincent JL, Angus DC. The third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016;315(8):801–10. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.0287.
Loveday HP, Wilson JA, Pratt RJ, Golsorkhi M, Tingle A, Bak A, Browne J, Prieto J, Wilcox M, UK Department of Health. epic3: national evidence-based guidelines for preventing healthcare-associated infections in NHS hospitals in England. J Hosp Infect. 2014;86(Suppl 1):S1–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6701(13)60012-2.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Comisso, I., Bambi, S. (2018). General Considerations About Infection Prevention. In: Nursing in Critical Care Setting. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50559-6_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50559-6_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50558-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50559-6
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)