Appropriate use of antimicrobial prophylaxis: an observational study in 21 surgical wards.

BACKGROUND: Surveillance of Surgical Site Infections (SSI) in 2010 found 39 % compliance with hospital guidelines in Piedmont (Italy). The aim of the study was to estimate the appropriate use of antimicrobial prophylaxis and compliance with hospitals guidelines in surgical wards. METHODS: This survey study took place in 21 surgery wards of 4 public hospitals. Forms were completed by public health resident doctors together with a medical ward referent and infection control nurses. 15 consecutive surgical procedures were randomly chosen from each ward. A total of 320 cases were analyzed. The study period was from July 2012 to January 2013. Data were collected using a survey form. A final score variable from 0 to 4 was given to each case. The results were compared with hospital and international guidelines. Data were analyzed using Epi-Info software. RESULTS: Of the 320 cases collected, 63 were excluded; of the remaining 257 cases, 56.4 % of the procedures were appropriate (score 4), 15.2 % were acceptable and 28.4 % were not acceptable. The study found an unjustified continuation of antimicrobial prophylaxis in 17.1 % of the 257 cases, an unjustified re-start of antimicrobial therapy in 9.7 % and a re-dosing omission in 7.8 %. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated critical problems in antimicrobial prophylaxis management in surgical wards due to a lack of compliance between hospitals and national guidelines, a shortage of specific and updated recommendations for some surgical interventions and incorrect local specific procedures. Coordination between local and national recommendations, strengthening of evidence based decisions and continuous sharing of policy updates are needed.

World Health Organization Framework: Multimodal Hand Hygiene Strategy in Piedmont (Italy) Health Care Facilities.

OBJECTIVES: In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the "Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework" (HHSAF) to evaluate the level of the application of the Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy (MHHIS), which defines preventive interventions, standards, and tools conceived to improve hand hygiene in healthcare facilities. The aim of our study was to evaluate the implementation of the MHHIS in Piedmont healthcare units in 2014 using the HHSAF document. METHODS: Our surveillance was performed through collection and analysis of the data from 50 Piedmont healthcare facilities recorded through the HHSAF in 2014. The HHSAF describes the hand hygiene level evaluating the following 5 parameters: system changes, education/staff training, evaluation and feedback, reminders in the workplace, and promotion of an institutional safety climate. RESULTS: We reported that 70.4% of the healthcare facilities involved in the study achieved the intermediate hand hygiene level, 19% the advanced level, and 11% the basic level. No facility exhibited an inadequate level of WHO multimodal implementation. Only 55% of the healthcare units provided information about hand hygiene to patients, and only 15% actively involved patients and their families. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of the MHHIS has achieved important results all over the world in terms of hand hygiene. Piedmont has reached an overall good level, particularly in terms of the supply and availability of hand washing products and staff education. Our results revealed, however, some critical issues related to direct and indirect monitoring of hand hygiene, providing reminders and the active involvement of patients, family members, and caregivers.

Estimation of sickness absenteeism among Italian healthcare workers during seasonal influenza epidemics.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze absenteeism among healthcare workers (HCWs) at a large Italian hospital and to estimate the increase in absenteeism that occurred during seasonal flu periods. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study. METHODS: The absenteeism data were divided into three "epidemic periods," starting at week 42 of one year and terminating at week 17 of the following year (2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013), and three "non-epidemic periods," defined as week 18 to week 41 and used as baseline data. The excess of the absenteeism occurring among HCWs during periods of epidemic influenza in comparison with baseline was estimated. All data, obtained from Hospital's databases, were collected for each of the following six job categories: medical doctors, technical executives (i.e., pharmacists), nurses and allied health professionals (i.e., radiographers), other executives (i.e., engineers), nonmedical support staff, and administrative staff. The HCWs were classified by: in and no-contact; vaccinated and unvaccinated. RESULTS: 5,544, 5,369, and 5,291 workers in three years were studied. The average duration of absenteeism during the epidemic periods increased among all employees by +2.07 days/person (from 2.99 to 5.06), and the relative increase ranged from 64-94% among the different job categories. Workers not in contact with patients experienced a slightly greater increase in absenteeism (+2.28 days/person, from 2.73 to 5.01) than did employees in contact with patients (+2.04, from 3.04 to 5.08). The vaccination rate among HCWs was below 3%, however the higher excess of absenteeism rate among unvaccinated in comparison with vaccinated workers was observed during the epidemic periods (2.09 vs 1.45 days/person). CONCLUSION: The influenza-related absenteeism during epidemic periods was quantified as totaling more than 11,000 days/year at the Italian hospital studied. This result confirms the economic impact of sick leave on healthcare systems and stresses on the necessity of encouraging HCWs to be immunized against influenza.

The "bundle" approach to reduce the surgical site infection rate.

RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES: In Italy, since 2008, the surveillance of surgical site infections (SSIs) has been conducted following ECDC recommendations, according to the protocol of the National System of Surveillance of Surgical Site Infections. In 2009, in Piedmont region, where the study was conducted, it was introduced a survey of a "bundle" for every patient under SSIs surveillance. The bundle includes 5 items: infection risk index calculation, preoperative shower, trichotomy, antibiotic prophylaxis, and body temperature control. The aim of this study is the evaluation of the incidence rate of the SSIs in relation to the implementation of the bundle from January 1st to December 31st, 2012. METHOD: This study is an observational study (retrospective cohort). The regional surveillance system collected 3314 surgical operations during the year 2012 from 37 hospitals. The represented surgical categories were hip prosthetic surgery (HPRO: 1992 cases) and colon surgery (COLO: 1322 cases). The bundle was implemented in 1114 and 671 operations, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted stratifying the sample for hip surgery and colorectal surgery, with the purpose to identify an association between the implementation of the bundle and a decrease of the rate of SSIs. RESULTS: From the analysis, the bundle resulted as a protective factor for the infection risk in colon surgery (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38-0.78). The main risk factors were American Society of Anesthesiologists score ≥ 3 (OR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.10-2.24) and contamination class ≥ 3 (OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.37-2.97). In the hip surgery, the application of the bundle was not statistically associated to a decrease of the risk of infection. CONCLUSION: The use of surgical bundle seems to reduce significantly the SSIs rate in the colon surgery.