Nosocomial infections in a pediatric surgical intensive care unit: An unicentric cross-sectional study

Introduction. Nosocomial infections are a common complication in patients hospitalized in intensive care units. The aims of this research were to examine the incidence of nosocomial infections in patients admitted to the pediatric surgical intensive care unit, the impact of hospital length of stay and type of surgical disease on the incidence of nosocomial infections, the frequency of microorganisms causing nosocomial infections and their antibiotic susceptibility profile. Material and Methods. Data on 50 subjects were extracted from the database. The following data were taken from the medical histories of the examinees: age, sex, diagnosis, number of days at the hospital before admission to the intensive care unit, number of days in the intensive care unit, levels of C-reactive protein, applied antimicrobial drugs, isolated microorganisms and their susceptibility to antibiotics. Results. The incidence of nosocomial infections in the study period was 52%. Patients who developed nosocomial infection remained longer in the intensive care unit than those who did not develop it (p = 0.003). Patients with the diagnosis of acute abdomen had a statistically significantly higher incidence of nosocomial infections compared to other patients (p = 0.001). Gram-negative bacteria were the most commonly isolated pathogens (46.8%). Acinetobacter baumanii proved to be the most resistant species in this study, since 80% of the strains did not show sensitivity to any of the tested antibiotics. Conclusion. Nosocomial infections are present in slightly more than half of the patients treated at the pediatric surgical intensive care unit. Patients who developed nosocomial infections stayed longer in the pediatric surgical intensive care unit, which had negative consequences for their health and treatment costs.