Incidence of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) and the adherence to the HAIs' prevention strategies in a military hospital in Alkharj

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are considered one of the most common adverse events in health care service provision. In order to prevent the occurrence of HAIs, it is important to implement several prevention strategies. Objectives: This study aims to determine the incidence of healthcare-associated infections in a military hospital in Alkharj and the adherence to the HAIs' prevention strategies. Methods: This study included exporting data for all infected cases confirmed by the infection disease specialists in 2019. The data were collected from the reports that were written by infection control unit and infectious disease department. Results: The rate of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in 2019 was 0.43% of total patient admissions. The rate of central line associated bloodstream infections in 2019 was 1.15 per 1000 central line days. The rate of catheter associated urinary tract infections in 2019 was 1.00 per 1000 catheter days. The rate of ventilator associated pneumonia in 2019 was 2.11 per 1000 ventilator days and the rate of surgical site infections in 2019 was 0.41 %. Conclusion: The rate of overall healthcare-associated infections (HAI) was low. The compliance rate of health care workers to preventive measures that control HAIs was generally high but there was a need for more awareness particularly regarding personal protective equipment and hand hygiene. So it is important to attend more awareness activities and workshops particularly regarding personal protective equipment and hand hygiene. Furthermore, infection control unit and infectious disease department in the hospital should support the robust HAI prevention programs. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).