Microorganisms grown in urine cultures and antimicrobial resistance patterns: A randomised retrospective analysis from a tertiary hospital.

INTRODUCTION: Patients in intensive care units (ICU) are 5-7 times more susceptible to infection than other groups, which increases the prevalence of hospital-acquired infections and associated sepsis accounting for 60% of deaths. Gram-negative bacteria are the most common source of urinary tract infections that cause morbidity, mortality, and sepsis in the ICU. The aim of this study is to detect the most commonly grown microorganisms and antibiotic resistance in urine cultures in the intensive care units of our tertiary city hospital, which has more than 20% of the ICU beds in Bursa By this way, we suppose that we will contribute to surveillance studies in our province, our country. METHODOLOGY: Patients who were admitted to Bursa City Hospital adult ICU for various reasons between 15.07.2019 and 31.01.2021 and had growth in urine cultures were retrospectively screened. The urine culture result, growing microorganism, antibiotic used, and resistance status were recorded and analyzes were performed according to hospital data. RESULTS: Gram-negative growth was observed in 85.6% (n = 7707), gram-positive growth in 11.6% (n = 1045), and candida fungus growth in 2.8% (n = 249). Resistance to at least one antibiotic in urine cultures was observed for Acinetobacter (71.8), Klebsiella (51%), Proteus (47.95%), Pseudomonas (33%), E. coli (31%) and Enterococci (26.75%), respectively. DISCUSSION: Developing a health system leads to longer life expectancy, longer intensive care treatment, and more frequent interventional procedures. In terms of being a resource for empirical treatments, early initiation of empirical treatments to control the urinary tract infection disrupts the patient's hemodynamics and increases mortality and morbidity.

Vaccine hesitancy among healthcare professionals and the general population: Second important step in the fight against COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: This study aims at finding valuable information for predicting vaccination intentions against COVID-19 to guide future interventions to address hesitation. METHODOLOGY: This observational study consists of 1010 volunteer health workers from the state hospitals in Bursa, and 1111 volunteers from the non-healthcare group, unvaccinated against COVID-19. In the study, the participants were asked about their sociodemographic information and reasons for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine by face-to-face interview. RESULTS: We classified the unvaccinated healthcare worker group as group 1, and the unvaccinated non-health workers group as group 2. Between groups 1 and 2, vaccination refusal, education level, income level, and pregnancy status were statistically significant (p < 0.001). The groups differed in the reasons for vaccine refusal and recommending vaccination to the relatives of those who refused vaccination (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare workers have priority among high-risk groups considered candidates for early vaccination. Therefore, it is important to consider health professionals' attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination to better address barriers to widespread vaccination. The role of healthcare professionals is also important, as it encourages the entire community to be vaccinated with role-modeling behavior and advises patients and communities.

Platelet distribution width in young patients with chronic venous insufficiency.

OBJECTIVE: Platelet distribution width (PDW) has been reported in a wide range of pathological settings. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between PDW and lower extremity chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) by comparing the levels of PDW and other parameters derived from complete blood count (CBC) tests in young individuals with or without lower extremity CVI. METHODS: This prospective clinical study was conducted between January 2020 and December 2020. A total of 108 patients, 72 patients with lower extremity CVI (study group) and 36 healthy volunteers (control group) were enrolled from the Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Education Research Hospital and the Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University Training and Research Hospital. The age range of the participants was between 18 and 50 years old. Participants' baseline clinical features and CBC parameters including PDW, white blood cell, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, red cell distribution width, neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet count, mean platelet volume, plateletcrit, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The groups were statistically similar in terms of baseline clinical features. The median PDW value was significantly higher for the CVI patients relative to the control group (17.6 vs 16.8; p < 0.001). In terms of other CBC parameters, there were no significant differences between the groups. According to ROC analysis, area under the curve of PDW was 0.749 (95% confidence interval: 0.653-0.846 and p < 0.001). If the value of PDW was accepted as 17, it could predict CVI with 76% sensitivity and 59% specificity, whereas a PDW value of 17.5 could predict CVI with 51% sensitivity and 81% specificity. CONCLUSION: Platelet distribution width might be a useful marker to determine an increased inflammatory response and thrombotic status in young patients with CVI.

Effect of health literacy of caregivers on survival rates of patients under palliative care.

AIM: In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of health literacy of the patient caregiver on the care results of palliative care patients. METHODS: Two hundred and forty-two patients who were hospitalised in palliative care units of seven hospitals in the city in January 2018 were involved in the study. Mortality of the patients was checked 3 months later. A survey interrogating the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients and Turkish translation of Health Literacy Survey - European Union to measure the health literacy level of the caregivers were used. RESULTS: About 19.50% of the patient caregivers are in adequate (sufficient/perfect) HL group in term of general HL. Caregivers had difficulty to access information/knowledge of what to do in case of emergency. Prevalence of bedsore occurrence in patients whose caregiver has 'inadequate' HL is higher than patients whose caregiver has 'adequate' HL. Rate of 'inadequate HL' of the caregiver is higher in dead group. As the length of hospitalisation variable value increases 1 unit, risk of mortality decreases 2%. CONCLUSIONS: Health literacy levels of the individuals dealing with the care of palliative unit patients hospitalised in our region are low. Amelioration of health literacy of the caregivers will have a direct effect on patient health and prevention of complications. Improving health literacy must be a priority target for a more quality patient care and less complication. The issues that caregivers felt themselves insufficient should be addressed and necessary actions should be taken in the identified issues.