128 - Hospital Acquired Infections
Autor(s): F. Vitale
Issue: RIMeL - IJLaM, Vol. 2, N. 3-S1, 2006 (MAF Servizi srl ed.)
Page(s): 128-130
Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) are one of the main indicators to determine the quality of Health Care assistance and continue to constitute an important cause of pathology, mortality and preventable costs for Sanitary System. In recent years, the dynamic of economic-sanitary trends caused a decrease of period and numbers of admissions to hospital. Moreover the increasing better understanding on the correlated risk factors, together with the application of right methods of prevention, have improved the capacity of control on hospital infections. However, literature data show that the frequency of this pathologies is not on the decline. In general, studies on prevalence of Hospital Infections in Europe indicate levels of valuation between 5 and 10 %; while, in order to determine the incidence is necessary to conduct perspective studies for certain categories of patients (such as patients subjected to a particular surgical operation) or a continuous surveillance. The role of the laboratory of hospital Hygiene in the surveillance of IO consists in the identification of sentinel events, nosocomial clusters, as well as the valuation of the presence and monitoring of multiresistant microorganisms finalized to implement the strategies of control and prevention.