Direct costs associated with a hospital-acquired outbreak of rotaviral gastroenteritis infection in a long term care institution.

In January 2008, 63 patients were infected during an outbreak of rotaviral gastroenteritis in a long term care facility for elderly patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the direct financial costs of this outbreak to the hospital. Data on costs were gathered from both medical records and the hospital finance department. The total hospital cost of the outbreak was euro17,959, or euro285.1 per case, comprising: euro4,948 for medical investigation and treatment costs, euro4,400 for isolation, euro1,879 for infection control staff, euro4,170 for other staff and euro2,562 for bed-day loss. The cost of this outbreak emphasises the importance of the early recognition of an outbreak and implementation of infection control measures.

[Evaluation of antibiotic curative treatments in a French orthopedic surgery unit]. / Evaluation des antibiothérapies curatives dans les services de chirurgie orthopédique d'un CHG.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the technical quality and the relevance of antibiotics used in an orthopedic unit. DESIGN: A prospective and descriptive assessment was made of patients hospitalized in the orthopedic surgery department of our general hospital, receiving antimicrobial therapy. The relevance of antibiotics was evaluated using as a reference local guidelines previously validated by the antibiotics committee. RESULT: During the period of study, 37 of the 249 hospitalized patients received antibiotics (14.9 %). The reasons for hospitalization were mainly lower limb trauma (38 %) and an infectious disease (35 %). Hospital-acquired infections accounted for 16.2 % of antibiotic prescriptions. During the study, we observed that the dose regimen was inappropriate in 9 % of the cases, that the expected length of treatment was not indicated (76 %), and that the mode of administration was not mentioned in 8 % of the cases. Twenty five percent of combinations were not relevant. Finally, 27.3 % of prescriptions were not in conformity with guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: The quality and relevance of antibiotics used as curative treatments in the orthopedic surgery unit seem satisfactory for the dose regimen, the route and dose of administration and combinations used. We identified a few points which need to be improved: update and improvement of local antibiotherapy guidelines, promotion of training sessions for new prescribers in the institution.