Effect of intensive training and education of health care workers on the maintenance bundle of venous access devices in critically ill patients at a tertiary care academic hospital.

BACKGROUND: The maintenance bundle of care for all venous access devices (peripheral intravenous catheters, PIVC; central venous catheters, CVCs; hemodialysis ports) is important to prevent secondary sepsis in critically ill patients. This quality improvement project analyzed the effect of intensive training and education of health care workers (HCWs) on maintenance bundles for venous access devices. METHODS: The study period comprising of preintervention phase (3-months) included 25 random visits to the intensive care unit for point observations regarding maintenance of all venous access devices in-situ in all intensive care unit patients on the day of the visit. The observations were categorized as appropriate or inappropriate practices based on American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) guidelines for CVC 2020, INICC guidelines for PIVC 2017, and Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACQHCS) for PIVC and hemodialysis ports, December 2019. While the intervention phase (1-month) comprised intensive training and education of HCWs, postintervention phase 3 (3-months) included similar visits and point observations as during the preintervention phase. RESULTS: The maintenance of PIVC improved significantly in terms of the condition of site (from 82.7% appropriate observations to 97.8%, P < .05); condition of connectors (45.7%-56.8%, P < .05), and any attached unused IV sets (90.5%-98.56%, P < .05). For CVC, there was significant improvement in condition of insertion site (66%-94%, P < .01); condition of connectors (0%-44.37%, P < .01); fixation (91%-99.3%, P < .05); any attached unused IV sets (38.9%-97.3%, P < .01) and knowledge of HCW (96.52%-100%, P = .05). For hemodialysis ports, no significant improvement was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Intensive training and education of HCWs led to significant improvement in the maintenance bundle of care for PIVC and CVC.

Quantification of diurnal variation in "glove hygiene" compliance in COVID ICUs: An exploratory study.

BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene compliance (HHC) monitoring is almost always done in daytime. Documentation of HHC in health care workers (HCWs) is limited during odd hours and nighttime. The objective of the study was to determine diurnal variation in HHC in different categories of health care workers in tertiary care hospital in North India. METHODS: A prospective, observational study was conducted in 3 COVID-19 intensive care units (ICUs) with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Dedicated infection control nurses monitored HHC among various HCWs (doctors, nursing staff, technicians, hospital and sanitary attendants) during day and nighttime, in 20-minute durations. The difference in HHC by-professional category and for each WHO moment was assessed using χ² test and P value. RESULTS: A total of 705 opportunities were observed over a period of 7 days, with overall compliance of 53%. Day and nighttime compliance was recorded to be 60.7% and 42.1%, respectively (P < .001). HCC was highest amongst resident doctors with little diurnal variation. However, nurses and housekeeping staff exhibited significant diurnal variation. The compliance at "after" moments was much higher than "before" moments in all professional categories. CONCLUSION: There was a significant decrease in compliance during nighttime, amongst all HCWs, with maximum variation exhibited by nursing staff. The present study underlines the importance of monitoring HHC at odd hours, to elicit a more accurate picture round the clock. Health care facilities monitoring compliance only during the daytime may substantially overestimate HHC.

Ventilator-associated Events Surveillance in a Trauma Intensive Care Unit: A Prospective Study of Incidence, Predictive Values, Sensitivity, Specificity, Accuracy, and Concordance with Ventilator-associated Pneumonia.

Introduction: The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) introduced a new definition of ventilator-associated events (VAEs) in 2013 in place of longstanding ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) definition. Three entities under VAE, ventilator-associated condition (VAC), infection-related ventilator-associated complication (IVAC), and possible ventilator-associated pneumonia (PVAP), were introduced. Objectives: To assess the incidence of all VAEs in a tertiary care trauma ICU and to find the predictive value of VAE and sensitivity of VAE definitions for VAP. Design: Cohort prospective study at trauma intensive care unit (ICU) of PGIMER, Chandigarh, from July 2018 till June 2019. Materials and methods: Patients admitted in trauma ICU were checked for VAP and VAE criteria defined by CDC. Results: Four hundred and sixty five patients were observed. Around 378 patients were included in the study with 4046 patient days and 3031 mechanical ventilation (MV) days. Incidence rate of PVAP, IVAC, VAC, and VAP was 2.97, 6.60, 10.23, and 9.24 per 1000 ventilator days, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value (NPV) of diagnosing VAP were 0.61, 0.97, 0.68, and 0.97 for VAC; 0.80, 0.97, 0.57, and 0.99 for IVAC; and 0.78, 0.94, 0.25, and 0.9 for PVAP, respectively. Kendall's W test showed that there was very poor concordance between VAP and VAE. How to cite this article: Kaur K, Jain K, Biswal M, Dayal SK. Ventilator-associated Events Surveillance in a Trauma Intensive Care Unit: A Prospective Study of Incidence, Predictive Values, Sensitivity, Specificity, Accuracy, and Concordance with Ventilator-associated Pneumonia. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(5):584-590.

Colonization of the central venous catheter by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in an ICU setting: An impending outbreak managed in time.

BACKGROUND: Stenotrophomonas maltophiliacauses opportunistic infections in immunocompromised and patients in intensive care units (ICUs). An outbreak of S. maltophilia in ICU is described which highlights the importance of the risk of infection from contaminated medical devices and suction fluids in ventilated patients. METHODS: The investigation of the outbreak was carried out. Environmental sampling was done. This was followed by MALDI-TOF MS typing and recA gene-based-phylogeny. RESULTS: In February, S. maltophilia was reported from the central line blood of six patients from ICU within a span of two weeks. The peripheral line blood cultures were sterile in all patients. Relevant environmental sampling of the high-touch surface and fluids revealed S. maltophilia strains in normal saline used for suction and in the inspiratory circuit of two patients. The isolated strains from patients and environment (inspiratory fluid) showed a minimum of 95.41% recA gene sequence identity between each other. Strict cleaning and disinfection procedures were followed. Continuous surveillance was done and no further case of S. maltophilia was detected. Timely diagnosis and removal of central line prevented development of central-line associated blood stream infection. CONCLUSION: This outbreak report illustrates that environmental sources like suction fluid and normal saline could be the source of S. maltophilia in ICU patients.

Impact of an antimicrobial stewardship and monitoring of infection control bundle in a surgical intensive care unit of a tertiary-care hospital in India.

OBJECTIVES: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in resource-limited settings lacks models that can be readily adapted to their settings. Here we discuss the impact of a combined strategy of AMS and monitoring of infection control practices in a tertiary-care centre of a developing country. METHODS: This study was undertaken in the surgical unit of a tertiary-care hospital over an 8-month period. In the first 2 months (baseline phase), prospective audit and feedback alone was undertaken, while in the next 6 months (intervention phase) this was supplemented with strategies such as antimicrobial timeout, correction of doses and bundle approach for prevention of hospital-acquired infections. RESULTS: A total of 337 patients were included (94 in the baseline phase and 243 in the intervention phase). There was a decrease in days of therapy per 1000 patient-days (1000PD) (1112.3 days vs. 1048.6 days), length of therapy per 1000PD (956 days vs. 936.3 days) and defined daily doses (DDD) per 1000PD for most antimicrobials. A decrease in double cover for Gram-negative infections (9.6% vs. 2.9%) but an increase in double anaerobic cover (4.2% vs. 7.4%) was observed. There was a decrease in the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia per 1000 ventilator-days in the intervention phase (46.4 vs. 35.4), whereas central line-associated bloodstream infections per 1000 central line-days remained the same (14.7 vs. 14.8). CONCLUSION: This study shows that implementation of routine AMS activities with monitoring of infection control practices can help decrease overall antimicrobial use. With furtherance of measures to control infection, antimicrobial use may be further curtailed.

Home-Based Yoga Program for the Patients Suffering from Malignant Lymphoma during Chemotherapy: A Feasibility Study.

BACKGROUND: Yoga is proven beneficial in improving quality of life among breast cancer survivors receiving chemotherapy, but its effectiveness in lymphoma patients needs to be explored. As chemotherapy-induced neutropenia is very common among lymphoma patients, they are much prone to infections from the environment. Furthermore, trained yoga instructors are not available in every setting, so there is a need to develop home-based yoga program modules for lymphoma patients receiving chemotherapy. AIM: The aim of the study was to explore the feasibility and safety of yogic exercises among lymphoma patients during chemotherapy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: An interventional, single-arm prepost design study was conducted at a tertiary health-care center. Patients suffering from malignant lymphoma (18-65 years) with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status from 0 to 2, planned to receive chemotherapy were administered a home-based yoga program over a period of 2 months from the start of chemotherapy. The primary outcome variables were retention rate, acceptance rate, safety, and adherence. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL), fatigue level, overall sleep quality, depression, anxiety level, and pain were also assessed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics was used to see the feasibility and adherence. The paired t-test was used to compare various pre and postintervention outcome measures. RESULTS: Fourteen patients (median age: 36 years, range13-65 years) of malignant lymphoma were enrolled in the study. Male-to-female ratio was 9:5. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients constituted 64%. The recruitment rate was 93%. Favorable retention (100%), acceptability (97%), adherence (78.6%), and no serious adverse events following yoga practice were reported. Improvement was also found in HRQOL, fatigue, sleep, depression, and anxiety. However, it needs further validation in a randomized study. CONCLUSION: Home-based yoga program is safe and feasible among the patients suffering from malignant lymphoma receiving chemotherapy.

Effect of Intensive Education and Training of Nurses on Ventilator-associated Pneumonia and Central Line-associated Bloodstream Infection Incidence in Intensive Care Unit at a Tertiary Care Center in North India.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to analyze the impact of education and training of nurses on the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective observational study at a tertiary care hospital included adult patients with Intensive Care Unit stay >48 h. The study was done in three phases: in Phase 1, baseline VAP and CLABSI incidence was calculated; in Phase 2, education and training of nurses; and in Phase 3, data were recollected for the incidence of VAP and CLABSI. RESULTS: The baseline incidence of VAP in Phase 1 was 28.86/1000 ventilator days and that of CLABSI was 7.89/1000 central-line days. In Phase 3, the incidence of VAP increased to 35.06 and that of CLABSI decreased significantly, 1.73. CONCLUSION: Intensive education and training sessions with feedback from nurses over a period of 6 months led to significant reduction in the incidence of CLABSI; however, the incidence of VAP increased.