No abstract

Intensive care units (ICUs) are important departmants at the hospital for nosocomial infections. Although an ICU has 5%-10% of the hospital beds, 25%-50% of the nosocomial infections originate from the ICU (1,2). Both ventilator-related pneumonia (VRP) and catheter-related urinary tract infections (CRUIs) are the most common infections in the ICU (3). Many risk factors are responsible for nosocomial infection in the ICU (1,4). Some of the risk factos are related to the patient, whereas the others are related to the external factors (1,4). It is known that improving the risk factors decreases the infection, mortality, morbidity, and cost (1,3).The environmental conditions affect the infection rate in the ICU (5,6). The patient number in the room, being in single or multiple patient room, space in the room, and design of the room are important for infecton control in the ICU (2,5,6,7,8). Generally efficient airconditioning, filter, heat, and humidity systems are important for infection control at the hospital. These systems are more important than the others in some departments such as the ICU (9). ABSTRACTIntensive care units (ICUs) are the most important departments of a hospital regarding nosocomial infections. Many risk factors contribute to the infection rates in ICUs. These risk factors can be related to the patient or environment. Environmental conditions are important in infection control. Nurse/patient ratio has been shown to be related to nosocomial infection rates. This study aimed to investigate the effects of some of these factors on nosocomial infection rates in ICUs.The effects of changes in environmental conditions, such as area around the patient bed, temperature, humidity, and nurse/ patient rates on nosocomial infection rates were examined retrospectively in the ICU from January 2012 to June 2014 in this study.The total infection rate, ventilator associated pneumonia rate, and catheter-related urinary tract infection rate were found to be 7.67%, 14.53%, and 5.47%, respectively. Despite a statistically significant relationship between all infection rates and the size of the area around the patient bed, no relationship was detected between the nurse/patient rates and the infection rates. Between temperature and humidity, only humidity had a statistically significant relationship with catheterrelated urinary tract infection rates.Nurse/patient ratio is important in ICUs but the other factors related to the quality of the work and infection control are also important. The size of the area around the patient bed has been shown to have an important effect on infection control. This study reported a direct relationship of the size of the area around the patient bed with the infection rates. More studies are needed to evaluate the relationship between temperature and humidity and nosocomial infection rates.

ÖZObjective: Viral hepatitis is still an important health problem in our country. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at a higher risk for acquiring viral hepatitis. Hospital housekeeping staff, working in similar conditions with HCWs, are a very difficult group in terms of training and follow up. In this study, it was aimed, It was aimed to investigate the serological status and occupational exposure risk of our hospital housekeeping staff to viral hepatitis. Materials and Methods:A pre-prepared questionnaire was completed for each cleaning staff member working at the hospital through one-on-one interviews. The data regarding education level, job experience, attendance to previous training programs and vaccination status were collected in this questionnaire and for each staff one questionnaire form was filled. Serological tests for hepatitis A, B, and C were done. Results: The hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity rate among our hospital housekeeping staff was 4.9%, and 8.9% of them tested negative for anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) IgG. Anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity was 0%. 48.1% of the staff had completed primary school. 61.7% of the staff reported that they did not receive any training on the methods of protecting against blood-borne pathogens. 81.5% of them did not have any experience of working in a healthcare setting and only 8.6% of them have been previously vaccinated against hepatitis B. Conclusion: HBsAg seropositivity rate in housekeeping staff in our sample was higher than in the normal population and was similar to that in other HCWs. Their anti-HAV IgG and Anti-HCV positivity rates were similar to that in the normal population. It was determined that the group had a low education level and did not have any experience of working in a healthcare setting and their hepatitis B virus immunization rate was low (8.6%). We concluded that annual health check, vaccination and frequency of training programs are not sufficient for hospital housekeeping staff and we suggest that serology testing, vaccination of seronegative personnel and training related to blood and body fluid exposure risks, and protection methods should be performed at the time of job start. Keywords: Occupational risk, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, seroprevalenceAmaç: Viral hepatitler ülkemizde halen önemini koruyan bir sağlık sorunudur. Sağlık çalışanları viral hepatitler açısından riskli grupta bulunmaktadırlar. Hastanede çalışan temizlik çalışanları sağlık çalışanları ile benzer koşullarda çalışmakta olup, eğitimleri ve takipleri oldukça zor olan bir gruptur. Bu çalışmada hastanemizde çalışan temizlik elemanlarının bu konudaki riskleri ve hepatit serolojilerinin araştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntemler:Hastanemizde çalışmakta olan temizlik görevlileri ile yüz yüze hazırlanmış olan anket formu dolduruldu. Bu ankette temizlik çalışanlarına eğitim durumları, deneyimleri, aldığı eğitimler soruldu ve her temizlik çalışanı için bir form dolduruldu. Hepatit A, B ve C serolojileri çalışıldı. Bulgular: Temizli...