Patient Safety Related to Microbiological Contamination of the Environment of a Multi-Profile Clinical Hospital

Marlena Robakowska, Marek Bronk, Anna Tyrańska-Fobke, Daniel Ślęzak, Jakub Kraszewski and Łukasz Balwicki
Additional contact information
Marlena Robakowska: Department of Public Health & Social Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
Marek Bronk: Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology, University Center of Laboratory Medicine, University Clinical Center in Gdańsk, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland
Anna Tyrańska-Fobke: Department of Medical Rescue, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
Daniel Ślęzak: Department of Medical Rescue, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland
Jakub Kraszewski: University Clinical Center in Gdańsk, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland
Łukasz Balwicki: Department of Public Health & Social Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-11

Abstract: Nosocomial infections pose a serious burden for hospitals, patients, and the entire society. The aim of the study was to assess the microbiological cleanliness of the hospital environment through quantitative and qualitative analysis of microbiological contamination of air and surfaces in inpatient treatment facilities, based on the example of a large clinical hospital in Poland. Data were collected between 2012 and 2018 in premises of a large teaching hospital in Gdansk using the sedimentation method and the impact method using the Aerideal apparatus (Biomerieux). In the analyzed clinical center, the microbiological cleanliness tests in most of the hospital rooms in the analyzed period showed an acceptable number of saprophytic microorganisms. Of all the tested samples, 1159 (21.8%) were positive, indicating the presence of microorganisms in the tested sample. Species potentially pathogenic for hospital patients were identified, constituting 20.8% of all positive samples (4.6% of all samples). Significantly higher proportion of microorganisms potentially dangerous to patients were isolated from sanitary facilities. Due to the potentially pathogenic microorganisms detected in the tested samples, the authors suggest that in the analyzed hospital, the areas requiring a specific level of microbiological purity should be designated and described, with [specifically] defined cleaning and disinfection protocols.

Keywords: infection prevention and control; surveillance of infections; epidemiology of infections (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3844/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3844/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:7:p:3844-:d:531085

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().