Abstract [eng] |
Nosocomial infection - any disease of bacterial, viral, parasitic or fungal origin associated with a patient's hospitalisation, examination, treatment or work in a healthcare facility. Hospital acquired infections are a problem in nursing and residential care facilities because they are transmitted in facilities where people at risk are treated. These hospitals are often associated with elderly, chronically ill patients who are at risk of nosocomial infections. The aim of the work is to assess the prevalence of nosocomial infections in Lithuanian hospitals for palliative care and nursing in 2019 - 2023. Objectives: 1. To analyse the overall prevalence of nosocomial infections in palliative care and nursing hospitals and compare it with the prevalence of nosocomial infections in general hospitals. 2. To assess the risk factors and prevalence of hospital-acquired infections by type of infection in palliative care and nursing hospitals. 3. To assess the application of key tools for the prevention and control of nosocomial infections in palliative care and nursing hospitals. Methods. This paper reviews the situation of hospital-acquired infections in nursing and palliative care hospitals in Lithuania. The work is based on data from the Hygiene Institute of Public Health Technology Centre's Hospital Infection Prevalence Survey Reports 2019 - 2023. An online questionnaire was also developed and sent to nursing and palliative care hospitals. The analysis of the Hospital Infection Prevalence Survey reports and the questionnaire responses are presented in graphical form. Results. The average rate of nosocomial infections in hospitals for palliative care and nursing in 2019 - 2023 was 5.05 percent. It was higher than in general hospitals. By hospital-acquired infection type, the most common HAIs in 2019 - 2023 were pneumonia (82.5 percent, with an average of 20.63 percent per year) and urinary tract infections (66 percent, with an average of 16.5 percent per year). The vast majority of respondents (78.9 percent) agree that nosocomial infections are a problem in their hospital. Conclusions. Although in prevalence studies more patients were in general hospitals, a higher percentage of nosocomial infections occurred in nursing and palliative care hospitals. Risk factors for nosocomial infections in nursing hospitals included hand antiseptic use, patient age, antibiotic consumption, and failure to take a microbiological test for infection. During the study period, urinary tract infections and pneumonia were the most common infections in nursing hospitals, while genitourinary tract and systemic infections were the least common. The survey found that most of the infection control methods are used in Lithuanian nursing and palliative care hospitals. |