English

Abstract

BACKGROUND The intensive care unit (ICU) is a special department of the hospital and health care setting that provides intensive nursing care and care to patients with the most severe and life-threatening illnesses and injuries that require accurate, continuous monitoring and support from specialist, medication, and equipment in order to maintain normal bodily functions. Nosocomial infections are one of the leading causes of mortality in hospitalised patients especially the critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. The purpose of the present study was isolation, identification, and detection of the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of pathogenic bacteria isolated from different clinical specimens of ICU patients under the effect of infection control in Sajer General Hospital in Saudi Arabia. METHODS In this cross-sectional study conducted from January 2020 to April 2020, 200 clinical samples, 40 blood, 45 urine, 50 tracheal aspirate, 30 post-surgical Caesarean section wound swabs, 20 central venous catheters and 15 pus swabs were collected from patients hospitalised in ICUs of Sajer General Hospital. Antibiotic sensitivity testing was performed with the diffusion-disk method for several antibiotics. RESULTS The rate of nosocomial infection among ICU patients due to Gram-negative bacteria is significantly higher than that recorded by Gram-positive bacteria (78.75 %, 21.25 %, respectively). The majority of frequent bacteria isolated from all clinical specimens were Klebsielleae pneumoniae 20 (25 %) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa 18 (22.5 %), Acinetobacter baumannii 15 (18.75 %), Escherichia coli 10 (12.50 %), Staphylococcus aureus 9 (11.25 %), Streptococcus pyogenes 6 (7.50 %) and enterococcus spp. 2 (2.50 %). K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa and E. coli achieved high sensitivity to imipenem and meropenem (100 %). A. baumannii showed high sensitivity to meropenem (100 %) and imipenem (93.33 %). Staph. aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and enterococcus species showed high sensitivity to vancomycin (100 %). CONCLUSIONS The nosocomial infection is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in hospitals. The role of nursing care in the prevention of nosocomial infection has proven vital due to the emergence and spreading of different pathogenic bacteria. Close interactions between health care providers can save many more lives. KEY WORDS Intensive Care Units, Antibiotics Sensitivity Pattern, Nursing Infection Control