Predicting Hospital-Acquired Infections by Scoring System

Hospital-acquired infections (HAI), also known as Nosocomial Infections (NI) or healthassociated infections, are associated with increased attributable morbidity, mortality, prolonged hospitalization, and economic costs. The exact prevalence rate of HAI varies from country tocountry, the clinical settings (e.g. general wards vs. intensive-care units, ICU) disciplines (e.g. medical vs. surgical) and anatomical sites (e.g. bloodstream infection, respiratory infection, urinary tract infection, surgical site infection and soft tissue infection, etc). The Study on theEfficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control (SENIC) project estimated that approximately 2.1 million nosocomial infections occurs annually among 37.7 million admissions in US and the mortality rate reported to be 77,000, associated with nosocomial infections. The underlying causesare frequent invasive procedures, multiple drug therapies and complicated diseases. The ICU has higher prevalence rates of nosocomial infections . ranging from 31.5% to 82.4% in bloodstream infections and is at risk of mortality.Hospital-acquired infections is defined as an infection notpresent or incubating at the time of admission to hospital or other health-care facility and the diagnostic time frame is clearly dependent on the incubation period of the specific infection; 48 to 72 hours post-admission is generally regarded as indicative of HAIs .In addition to the association with morbidity and mortality, HAIs are frequently associated with drug-resistant microorganisms, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing gram-negative bacteria, which are increasinglyprevalent in the hospitals and the communities . Hospital-acquired infections can affect on any part or organ of the body. There are several predisposing factors contributing HAI. It is observed that factors are associated with either an increased risk of colonization or with decreased host defense, which could be divided as: those related to underlying health impairment such as age, smoking habits, diabetes; those related to the acute disease process such as surgery or burns; those related to the use of invasive procedures or other mode of treatment .Advancement of medical science and Conclusion:The development of the scoring system is the most significant result of this study that variables are mutually exclusive but can be put together as predictive parameters. Like other medical scoring system, the usefulness of this scoring is the simple calculation using limited parameters. Althoughthe numeric range of the scores ranks between 0 and 14, sum of equation over 3 predicts infection , a calculation easily performed by one s fingers. In infection surveillance, microbiology report are considered the most important initial source of information in screening for infection followed bypatient s chart, admitting office, house staffs, discharge summary, kardex, fever chart, antibiotic orders and quality assurance personnel

کلیدواژه ها:

Infection ، Patients ، Predicting ، Scoring System