Introduction. Nosocomial infections are a common complication in patients
hospitalized in intensive care units. The aims of this research were to
examine the incidence of nosocomial infections in patients admitted to the
pediatric surgical intensive care unit, the impact of hospital length of
stay and type of surgical disease on the incidence of nosocomial infections,
the frequency of microorganisms causing nosocomial infections and their
antibiotic susceptibility profile. Material and Methods. Data on 50 subjects
were extracted from the database. The following data were taken from the
medical histories of the examinees: age, sex, diagnosis, number of days at
the hospital before admission to the intensive care unit, number of days in
the intensive care unit, levels of C-reactive protein, applied antimicrobial
drugs, isolated microorganisms and their susceptibility to antibiotics.
Results. The incidence of nosocomial infections in the study period was 52%.
Patients who developed nosocomial infection remained longer in the intensive
care unit than those who did not develop it (p = 0.003). Patients with the
diagnosis of acute abdomen had a statistically significantly higher
incidence of nosocomial infections compared to other patients (p = 0.001).
Gram-negative bacteria were the most commonly isolated pathogens (46.8%).
Acinetobacter baumanii proved to be the most resistant species in this
study, since 80% of the strains did not show sensitivity to any of the
tested antibiotics. Conclusion. Nosocomial infections are present in
slightly more than half of the patients treated at the pediatric surgical
intensive care unit. Patients who developed nosocomial infections stayed
longer in the pediatric surgical intensive care unit, which had negative
consequences for their health and treatment costs.
Nosocomial infections and microbiological agents in an intensive care unit