Evaluation of the effectiveness of prevention packages for ventilator-associated pneumonia and central line-associated bloodstream infection in intensive care units

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are defined as serious health problems with many negative aspects. However, these infections can be prevented with suitable strategies and practices. In this study, it was aimed to present institution-specific precaution packages to healthcare staff's during training and to evaluate the effectiveness of active supervision. In this study, infection prevention packages were prospectively implemented over six months in the Study Group (n=67) first as training and then as monitoring. All data were compared with the Control Group (n=58). While 27 of 42 central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) detected in a total of 125 patients were in the Study Group, 16 of 27 Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) were also found in this group. A. baumannii, a gram-negative bacterium, was identified as the most frequently isolated pathogen for both infections. Although more secondary infections occurred in the Study Group (7.5%) than in the Control Group (3.4%), it was not statistically significant. Parenteral nutrition was observed in 20.6% of the Study Group and 15.4% of the Control Group (P=0.016). The health staff's compliance with the VAP prevention package was 97.9% in the Study Group and 87.5% in the Control Group. However, compliance with the CLABSI prevention package was 53.3% in the Study Group and 68.4% in the Control Group. While there was more compliance in the Study Group in the dressing control (P = 0.004) and skin antisepsis (P = 0.014) parameters of this package, less compliance was found in the hand hygiene and avoiding use of femoral vein items (P = 0.000) compared to the Control Group. According to the data of the last 6 months before the study, there was a total decrease in both infections. VAP decreased from 21 to 19 in the Study Group and CLABSI decreased from 28 to 26, but it was not found to be statistically significant (P = 0.950). Infection prevention packages; they can be effective in preventing VAP and CLABSI by providing up-to-date training, ensuring full compliance with precaution packages, and implementing full-time monitoring.