PATIENT-ORIENTED PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED INFECTIONS

The incidence of hospital-acquired infections varies between 2 and 15% (on average 5 to 8%). Most common nosocomial infections are urinary tract infections, wound infections, respiratory tract infections, septicemia and infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Nosocomial infections arise essentially via two routes: endogenously from the bodies own flora or exogenously via direct or indirect contact with the patient. Bacteria are most commonly transmitted from patient to patient by hands. Air as a vehicle, by which bacteria are transmitted, plays a relatively minor role. Priorities in hospital infection control are: hand washing and hand desinfection, improvement of certain nursing techniques, isolation of infected or susceptible patients, an infection control team with a nurse epidemiologist, surveillance and control of antibiotic therapy regimens, especially of antibiotic prophylaxis. Routine floor desinfection could not be shown to significantly reduce the hospital infection rate. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.