Infection prevention during performing invasive procedures in the intensive care units

The presence and frequency of hospital-acquired infections is a quality measure of care provided by medical institutions. Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections (HA-BSIs) constitute 10% of all hospital-acquired infections with mortality rates of 21-40% depending on the type of pathogen. Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections significantly extend the length and costs of treatment. Invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are necessary in everyday medical practice as part of a complex monitoring and treatment of surgical patients and critically ill patients with different aetiologies in intensive care units (ICU). Their use carries the risk of infectious complications, such as local infection at the site placement and metastatic infections in other organs (sepsis, septic thrombophlebitis, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, lung abscess, brain abscess, etc.) A large number of severe infections is associated with the presence of central venous catheters and endotracheal tube and a small number of them with spinal, epidural and other invasive anaesthesiological procedures in the ICU. The aim of this study was to emphasize the importance of applying the protocol for the prevention of infections associated with the placement, presence and maintenance of catheters in critically ill patients. Retrospective study included bacteriological causes of infections associated with the presence of catheters, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in case of suspected catheter-related infection in the CHC Bežanijska kosa. The entire medical staff has an important role in the process of prevention, but the phenomenon of infection is associated with susceptibility of the patients in the ICU which cannot be influenced.