Infection control team activity and recent antibiograms in the Kobe University Hospital

Abstract

The hospital infection control team (ICT) has a major role in suppressing or preventing infectious diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the work of the ICT had affected the antibiograms at the Kobe University Hospital in the past 3 years. The ICT's works are as follows: (1) to monitor whether physicians are instructed in the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics; (2) to check whether measures for preventing the occurrence or spread of infectious disease are performed along with appropriate standard precautions; (3) to provide rapid communication with physicians in bacteremia cases and (4) reporting the antibiograms in the hospital. In addition, we investigated changes in the antibiograms every 6 months based on all materials. There were 193 physician interventions in 2010 and 491 in 2011. The representative isolated bacteria included no additional bacteria with lower susceptibilities found over the past 1.5 years compared with the initial 1.5 years in the 3-year investigation period. The ratio for performing two sets of blood culture tests in all blood culture tests showed an upward tendency from 58.1% in 2009 to 71.1% in 2010 and 80.3% in 2011 (r=0.995, P=0.063, b=0.089). In conclusion, since the introduction of an expanded ICT role, our data showed an increased antibiotic susceptibilities in bacteria such as Enteroccus faecalis and the total amount of hand disinfectant agents tended to increase year by year, even though direct statistical analyses could not easily be performed. Further observation may be necessary for a definitive evaluation of ICT activities.