The Prevalence of Nosocomial Infection in Medical and Surgical Pediatric ICUs in a Tertiary Referral Hospital in the South of Iran

Nosocomial infection (NI) has always been considered a significant problem around the world. Due to the special conditions of the admitted patients, NI is of significant importance in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The present study was an attempt to study the prevalence of NI in PICU and its effects on hospital stay and mortality rate. The present research is a retrospective cross-sectional study in which the clinical and laboratory data of 693 patients admitted to the PICU of Namazi Hospital in 2018 was studied. Then, the information was entered into SPSS and analyzed. Of 693 admitted patients, 101 developed a nosocomial infection in the PICU, accounting for 14.57% of patients. Pneumonia, urinary infection, and septicemia were reported as the most frequent nosocomial infections. The most common pathogen responsible was Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter in pneumonia, Enterococcus in urinary infection, and Stenotrophomonas in septicemia. The present study showed that nosocomial infection was associated with increased hospital stay and mortality rate. Nosocomial infection is considered an important challenge in the health system; its prevalence in different parts of the world is different, and it was not high in the present study. Nosocomial infection increases mortality and hospital stay and imposes a heavy burden on the health system; therefore, it is vital to decrease its prevalence. These findings can be used to plan for better infection control strategies and decrease nosocomial infection, hospital stay, and mortality rate.