Resumen

RUANO, César Ignacio; MALDONADO, Juan Carlos  y  SALAZAR, Ramiro. Frecuencia de infección nosocomial en terapia intensiva: datos del proyecto PIN-FCM. Rev Cubana Hig Epidemiol [online]. 2004, vol.42, n.1, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3003.

The Nosocomial Infections Project from the Central University is the first carried out in Ecuador to study by a uniform methodology the prevalence of nosocomial infection (NI) in the services of 3 hospitals with different administrative branch.The findings corresponding to the intensive care units (ICU) are exposed. The objective is to describe the frequency and characteristics of NI at the ICU, as well as the design used in the punctual prevalence study. All the patients were admitted at the UCI of the social insurance hospitals, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Government, in Quito city. Of them, 16 that were studied (age 49 ± 19.7 years old), 9 had intrahospital infection (prevalence 56.25 %, IC 95 %: 29.8 - 80.2) located in the lower airways (pneumonia 6); central nervous system 1; skin and soft tissues 1; and osteoarticular 1. The length of stay (mean: percentile 25-75 %) at the UCI was longer in patients with NI (9: 4-76 days) than in those with no infectious process (5: 3-6 days). 81.2 % of the subjects had at least an intrinsic risk factor. In the cases with NI, the most frequent were obesity and decubitus ulcer (33 %). All the individuals had extrinsic risk factor. The most common were peripheral venous catheter (12), central venous catheter (8), vesical catheter (12) and mechanical ventilation (9). On comparing the cases with IN with those without it, it was found that mechanical ventilation (77.7 vs. 28.6 %) and enteral nutrition (55.5 vs. 14.3 %) predominated in the first. The microorganism causing NI more frequently were staphylococcus aureus and pseudomona aeuroginosa. It was concluded that the findings suggest a high frequency of NI at the ICU. Prospective studies are required to determine the incidence of NI at these units.

Palabras clave : Nosocomial infection; hospital infection; Intensive Care Unit; prevalence study.