Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107064

Hediye Seval Akgün, Professor¹, Ozlem Azap, Specialist², and Hande Arslan, AssocProf². (1) Public Health Department, Baskent University Hospitals Network, School of Medicine, 12. street. 7/9 Bahcelievler, Ankara, 06490, Turkey, + 90 312 212 04 34, sevala@baskent-ank.edu.tr, (2) Infectious Disease, Baskent University, School of Medicine, Maresal Fevzi Cakmak Avenue. 10.street, 06490, Bahcelievler, Ankara, Turkey

Nosocomial infections or those acquired at hospitals pose a detrimental threat to patients and cause unexpected morbidity and mortality. The detection of such infections, surveillance of their frequency and identification of their predisposing factors are essential prerequisites for the design and implementation of cost effective control and preventative measures. For this purpose, Baskent University Hospitals Network (BUHN) has adopted a program of infection control designed to involve and affect every member of the hospitals in the surveillance, prevention and control of nosocomial infection. The components of BUHN infection control programs are surveillance, relevant policies and procedures, in-service training programs, hospital employee programs, and selection of the most appropriate antibiotic in order to prevent drug resistance, and systematic monitoring and evaluating of infections. Information about infection control indicators is collected through a well-established computerized system and through the concurrent medical record review function, and then summarized and used for further evaluations. Infection control committee meets regularly and looks carefully at structures, process and outcomes of the system. Accordingly, appropriate procedures and policies are implemented with the involvement of all interested bodies. As a result of all these efforts, including an effective monitoring and evaluation system, the amount of nosocomial infections in our hospital wards dropped from 7.4 % in 1996 to 1.4 % in 2003 in wards. What is more, the same rate, dropped from 13.2% in 1996 to 11.9 % in 2003 in intensive care units.

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