Asiye Gül
Turkey
Health care workers, pathogen microorganisms,hands, enviromental surfaces
''5. Međunarodni kongres HDMSARIST-a'' i ''8. Međunarodni kongres WfCCN-a''
Šibenik, 12.-15. travnja 2012. godine
Introduction
The rate of development of health care associated infections (HCAIs) is high in the intensive care units (ICUs). Health care workers (HCWs)’ hands and environments for the patients are the main source of pathogen transmission. It is possible to prevent HCAIs by knowing sources and ways of spread of infection. Reduction of environmental contamination should reduce patient colonization by reducing the number of contaminated hand or surface contacts.
Aim
To identify the microorganisms represented in the environmental surfaces in ICUs.
Results
Bures et al isolated from environmental surfaces that Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 49%; Enterococcus 18%; Enterobacter 12%; and all other gram-negative rods 21%. Yildirim et al. found that the nurses wearing rings had more Gram-positive, Gram-negative microorganisms. Dwivedi et al. isolated from nurses’ hand cultures 28.3%, sink 75%, floors 21.9%, tap water 31.3% wall 13.3% Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Hartmann et al. found that the highest rate of contamination in patients’ rooms was found on keyboards with 5.4% Enterococcus spp. and mice with a contamination with Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) of 5.9%. In the central workstation the highest contamination rate was found for the mouse (12.5%). Ulger et al. found that the rate of bacterial contamination of mobile phones is 94.5%. The isolated microorganisms from mobile phones and hands were similar. Those S.aureus strains isolated from mobile phones of 52.0% and those strains isolated from hands of 37.7% were methicillin resistant. Panhotra et al. determined that the multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Serratia marcescens isolated from the patient’s files. Findik et al. determined that the number of colonies of the microorganisms in the hand flora of the nurses increased postshift.
Conclusion
HCWs should be aware that the microorganisms. According to these results, preventing pathogens colonization should be a goal in ICUs and should be given more attention to hand hygiene.