ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Health care-associated infections result in significant patient morbidity and mortality. Although cleaning can remove pathogens present on hospital surfaces, those surfaces may be inadequately cleaned or recontaminated within minutes. Because of copper's inherent and continuous antimicrobial properties, copper surfaces offer a solution to complement cleaning. The objective of this study was to quantitatively assess the bacterial microbial burden coincident with an assessment of the ability of antimicrobial copper to limit the microbial burden associated with 3 surfaces in a pediatric intensive care unit. METHODS: A pragmatic trial was conducted enrolling 1,012 patients from 2 high acuity care units within a 249-bed tertiary care pediatric hospital over 12 months. The microbial burden was determined from 3 frequently encountered surfaces, regardless of room occupancy, twice monthly, from 16 rooms, 8 outfitted normally and 8 outfitted with antimicrobial copper. RESULTS: Copper surfaces were found to be equivalently antimicrobial in pediatric settings to activities reported for adult medical intensive care units. The log10 reduction to the microbial burden from antimicrobial copper surfaced bed rails was 1.996 (99%). Surprisingly, introduction of copper objects to 8 study rooms was found to suppress the microbial burden recovered from objects assessed in control rooms by log10 of 1.863 (73%). CONCLUSION: Copper surfaces warrant serious consideration when contemplating the introduction of no-touch disinfection technologies for reducing burden to limit acquisition of HAIs.
Subject(s)
Anti-Infective Agents/pharmacology , Bacteria/isolation & purification , Bacterial Infections/prevention & control , Copper/pharmacology , Cross Infection/prevention & control , Disinfection/methods , Child , Chile , Environmental Microbiology , Humans , Intensive Care Units, Pediatric , Tertiary Care CentersSubject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Infant, Newborn , Infant , Child, Preschool , Helping Behavior , Pediatric Nursing , Professional-Family Relations , Self Care , Health Promotion/methods , Health Promotion/trendsABSTRACT
Se presenta la experiencia del la Unidad de Nefrología del Hosp. Roberto del Río en diálisis peritoneal usando máquina cicladora. Se dialisaron 3 niños con enfermedad renal en estado germinal, 3 veces a la semana, cada uno por un periodo de 5 meses (todos incluidos en un programa de transplante renal). La mejoria de las condiciones generales fue evidente en los tres casos, no se observó complicaciones simportantes ni se presentó peritonitis en 180 procedimientos. Esto permitió el manejo de los pacientes hasta entregarlos en condiciones óptimas para el transplante
