An Intervention Study for the Prevention and Control of Health Care-Associated Infection in the Critical Cares Area of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are an infection that patients acquire during receiving treatment and care for the medical or surgical problem.

Objective: The objective of this study is to find the patterns of HAIs cases in the hospital and to know the impact of the intervention on prevention and control of health care associated infection.

Methodology: This was prospective interventional study.

Results: The majority of cases of HAIs was reported from intensive care unit 47%. The most common site involved due to HAIs was catheter-associated urinary tract infection followed by central line-associated bloodstream infection. During the study period, around 28% reduction of cases were reported. During 6 months period (March to August 2016), around 540 cases were admitted in the critical care areas out of that 32 cases were reported as HAIs (5.9%) for the same period from (March to August 2017) was (3.4%), that difference came to be a statistically significant (χ² = 4.12, P = 0.042, df = 1).

Conclusion: This small study showed that strict implementation of care bundles with good compliance of hand hygiene, Personal protective equipment and antibiotic stewardship are helpful for prevention and control of hospital acquired infections. This study also demonstrated significant (28%) reduction of hospital acquired infections during the study period.