DOES CHLORHEXIDINE WIPE HELP IN REDUCING HOSPITAL ACQUIRED INFECTIONS (HAIS) AMONG CRITICALLY ILL CHILDREN ADMITTED TO A PAEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of chlorhexidine wipes in reducing the incidence of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) among critically ill children admitted in Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). METHODS: An interventional study, wherein enrolled children were wiped with chlorhexidine after routine bath. The incidence of HAIs were noted and compared with data from historical controls of previous year during the same period (pre-intervention). RESULTS: One hundred and ninety nine children in the intervention period were compared with 271 children from pre-intervention period. The numbers of ventilator-days were 777 and 696 respectively for the intervention period and pre-intervention periods. Incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) reduced from 12.9/1000 ventilator-days in the pre-intervention period to 6.4/1000 ventilator-days in the intervention period (p=0.1). VAP prevalence was 3.3% in the pre-intervention period as compared to 2.5% in the intervention period (p=0.6). The incidence of CLABSI was 3.6/1000 catheter-days (catheter days: 1377) with prevalence of 2.5% in the intervention period, whereas among the historic controls of the previous year it was 4.2/1000 days (catheter days 1432) with a prevalence of 2.2% (p= 0.8). No untoward effect was reported. CONCLUSION: The use of chlorhexidine wipes in ICU was feasible but did not signicantly decrease HAIs.