Examining the association between chest tube-related factors and the risk of developing healthcare-associated infections in the ICU of a community hos

Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2008 Aug 5; [Epub ahead of print] LinkOut
Oldfield MM, El-Masri MM, Fox-Wasylyshyn SM.
Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital, Windsor, ON, Canada.

OBJECTIVES: The study examined the association between chest tube-related factors and the risk for developing healthcare-associated infections (HAI).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: A case-control retrospective chart review was performed on 120 intensive care patients. Eligible patients were 18 years of age or older, had been in the intensive care unit (ICU) for 48h or more, and had one or more chest tubes.
SETTING: A 20-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a community hospital in south-western Ontario, Canada. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Documented diagnosis of hospital-acquired pneumonia or bloodstream infection.
RESULTS: The variable chest tube days was the only chest tube-related factor that was independently associated with HAI (OR=5.78; p=0.013). Mechanical ventilation (OR=4.88; p=0.002) and outcome length of stay (OR=0.72; p
PMID: 18693112 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]