Private rooms
Converting the intensive care units in hospitals to private rooms could greatly reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections, new research suggests.
The study comes from a study of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), which recently changed over the ICUs at three of its campuses from multi-bed units, in which beds were separated only by curtains, to single-patient rooms with private bathrooms.
For the study, Dana Y. Teltsch, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University, led a team who compared the rates of patient-acquired infections before and after the change from multi-bed rooms to private rooms.
As a control group, they also used data on patients at a similar multi-bed facility at a second university hospital. The authors then compared infection rates of a total of 19,343 ICU admissions at both hospitals between 2000 and 2005.
The researchers found that after converting the multibed ICU to all a series of private rooms:
• the acquisition rate of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) fell by 47 per cent
• the rate of C. acquisition dropped 43 per cent
• yeast infection acquisition decreased 51 per cent
The adjusted rate of acquisition of C difficile, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species (VRE), and MRSA combined decreased 54 per cent following the transition.
As well, the average length of stay for patients in the ICU at the comparison hospital increased steadily during the study, while the average length of stay at the intervention hospital fluctuated, but did not increase overall.
Additionally, the adjusted average length of stay in the ICU fell by an estimated 10 per cent after changing to private rooms.
The authors conclude that switching to single room ICUs can substantially reduce the rate at which patients acquire infectious organisms.
"An ICU environment with private rooms may facilitate better infection control practices, therefore reducing the transmission of infectious organisms," the authors write in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
Hospital–acquired infections occur in about 30 per cent of patients in intensive care units and typically lead to an increased length of stay in hospital, as well as additional costs
Dr. Vivian Loo, one the co-authors of the study, and the chief of microbiology at the MUHC notes that there is more to reducing the spread of illness than simply isolating patients.
"Of course, other factors are also important in preventing transmission, like hand hygiene, isolation precautions, antibiotic stewardship and housekeeping practices, but this study clearly demonstrates the crucial need for private rooms, particularly for this patient population," she said in a statement.
Converting the intensive care units in hospitals to private rooms could greatly reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections, new research suggests.
The study comes from a study of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), which recently changed over the ICUs at three of its campuses from multi-bed units, in which beds were separated only by curtains, to single-patient rooms with private bathrooms.
For the study, Dana Y. Teltsch, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University, led a team who compared the rates of patient-acquired infections before and after the change from multi-bed rooms to private rooms.
As a control group, they also used data on patients at a similar multi-bed facility at a second university hospital. The authors then compared infection rates of a total of 19,343 ICU admissions at both hospitals between 2000 and 2005.
The researchers found that after converting the multibed ICU to all a series of private rooms:
• the acquisition rate of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) fell by 47 per cent
• the rate of C. acquisition dropped 43 per cent
• yeast infection acquisition decreased 51 per cent
The adjusted rate of acquisition of C difficile, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species (VRE), and MRSA combined decreased 54 per cent following the transition.
As well, the average length of stay for patients in the ICU at the comparison hospital increased steadily during the study, while the average length of stay at the intervention hospital fluctuated, but did not increase overall.
Additionally, the adjusted average length of stay in the ICU fell by an estimated 10 per cent after changing to private rooms.
The authors conclude that switching to single room ICUs can substantially reduce the rate at which patients acquire infectious organisms.
"An ICU environment with private rooms may facilitate better infection control practices, therefore reducing the transmission of infectious organisms," the authors write in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
Hospital–acquired infections occur in about 30 per cent of patients in intensive care units and typically lead to an increased length of stay in hospital, as well as additional costs
Dr. Vivian Loo, one the co-authors of the study, and the chief of microbiology at the MUHC notes that there is more to reducing the spread of illness than simply isolating patients.
"Of course, other factors are also important in preventing transmission, like hand hygiene, isolation precautions, antibiotic stewardship and housekeeping practices, but this study clearly demonstrates the crucial need for private rooms, particularly for this patient population," she said in a statement.
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