National Survey of Practices to Prevent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in Thailand

Background. We evaluated the extent to which hospital characteristics, infection control practices, and compliance with prevention bundles impacted multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) infections in Thai hospitals. Methods. From 1 January 2014 to 30 November 2014, we surveyed all Thai hospitals with an intensive care unit and >= 250 beds. Infection control practices for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) were assessed. Linear regression was used to examine associations between hospital characteristics and prevention bundle compliance and changes in MDRO infection rates. Results. A total of 212 of 245 (86.5%) eligible hospitals responded. Most hospitals regularly used several fundamental infection control practices for MRSA and MDR-AB (ie, contact precautions, private room/cohorting, hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, and antibiotic stewardship); advanced infection control practices (ie, active surveillance, chlorhexidine bathing, decolonization for MRSA, and hydrogen peroxide vaporizer for MDR-AB) were used less commonly. Facilities with >= 75% compliance with the MRSA prevention bundle experienced a 17.4% reduction in MRSA rates (P =.03). Although the presence of environmental cleaning services (41.3% reduction, P =.01) and a microbiology laboratory (82.8% reduction, P =.02) were among characteristics associated with decreases in MDR-AB rates, greater compliance with the MDR-AB prevention bundle did not lead to reductions in MDR-AB rates. Conclusions. Although fundamental MRSA and MDR-AB control practices are used regularly in most Thai hospitals, compliance with more comprehensive bundled prevention approaches is suboptimal. Improving compliance with bundled infection prevention approaches and promoting the integration of certain hospital factors into infection control efforts may help reduce MDRO infections in Thai hospitals.