AbstractNosocomial (hospital-associated) infection continues to represent a major problem for hospitals. Gram-negative aerobic bacilli continue to be identified most frequently as etiologic agents, but a number of new pathogens now are recognized to play a role. The persons responsible for infection control efforts and in charge of the clinical microbiology laboratory (frequently the same person) must cooperate closely to attack this problem. The role of the laboratory in attempts to minimize occurrence of nosocomial infection involves six aspects: 1) accurate identification of responsible organisms, 2) timely reporting of laboratory data, 3) provision of additional studies, when necessary, to establish similarity or difference of organisms, 4) provision, on occasion, of microbiologic studies of the hospital environment, 5) training of infection control personnel, and 6) participation in activities of the hospital infection control committee. Show Type Original ArticlesCopyright Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1984 References1.Haley, RW: The “hospital epidemiologist” in U.S. hospitals, 1976-1977: A description of the head of the infection surveillance and control program. Infect Control 1980;1:21–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed 3.Goldmann, DA: Laboratory procedures for infection control, in Lennette, EH, Balows, A, Hausler, WJ Jret al (eds): Manual of Clinical Microbiology, ed 3. Washington, DC, American Society for Microbiology, 1980, pp 939–951.Google Scholar 4.Wong, LK, Barry, AL, Horgan, SM: Comparison of six different criteria for judging the acceptability of sputum specimens. J Clin Microbiol 1982;16:627–631.Google ScholarPubMed 7.England, AC, Fraser, DW, Plikaytis, BD, et al: Sporadic legionellosis in the United States: The first thousand cases. Ann Intern Med 1981;94:164–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed 8.Echeverria, P, Blacklow, NR, Cukor, GG, et al: Rotavirus as a cause of severe gastroenteritis in adults. J Clin Microbiol 1983;18:663–667.Google ScholarPubMed 9.Goldmann, DA, Macone, AB: A microbiologic approach to the investigation of bacterial nosocomial infection outbreaks. Infect Control 1980;1:391–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar 10.Thompson, RL, Cabezudo, I, Wenzel, RP: Epidemiology of nosocomial infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Ann Intern Med 1982;97:309–317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed 11.Maki, DG, Weise, CE, Sarafin, HW: A semi-quantitative culture method for identifying intravenous-catheter-related infection. N Engl J Med 1977;296:1305–1309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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What is a nosocomial infection?Introduction. Nosocomial infections also referred to as healthcare-associated infections (HAI), are infection(s) acquired during the process of receiving health care that was not present during the time of admission.
What are 3 common examples of nosocomial infections?Some of the common nosocomial infections are urinary tract infections, respiratory pneumonia, surgical site wound infections, bacteremia, gastrointestinal and skin infections.
What are symptoms of nosocomial infection?Common infectious symptoms include fever, chills, altered mental status, productive cough, shortness of breath, palpitations, abdominal pain, flank pain, suprapubic pain, polyuria, dysuria, and diarrhea. Vital signs can reflect signs of systemic inflammatory response or sepsis.
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