Microbiological predominance in an intensive care unit

Introduction

It is of essential importance to be acquainted with the microbiological predominance profile (bacteria and fungi) in an intensive care unit (ICU), and with this to better lead the therapy offered to the patient, to guide the treatment, to establish the procedures, preventive actions and prolonged education, to influence clinical decision making, to understand problems connected to hospital contamination and to take administrative-directed decisions.

Objective

Being acquainted with the predominance tendency and the fungal and bacterial profiles in the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital Intensive Care Unit.

Materials and methods

Data statistics analysis of bacterial and fungal cultures in the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital Intensive Care Unit in the period of 1 January 2001–10 March 2003, totaling 405 samples.

Results

See Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1

Table 2

Conclusion

Pseudomonas aeruginosa predominance is very high. Acnetobacter baumanni and Candida albicans are similar to the worldwide literature. Staphylococcos aureus has a low value, in our point of view, due to the impact of medical actions, educative procedures and administrative rules inserted in the service.