Environmental Infection Control in Intensive Care Units at Gaza Governorates: Interventional Study

Abstract

Background: Worldwide, many lives are lost because of the spread of infections in health facilities. Microbial organisms spreading in everything around us (air, water, food and inanimate surfaces). Most of these infections can be prevented by well-established processes for decontamination and cleaning of soiled instruments. Highrisk areas such as intensive care units (ICUs) require special ventilation systems that designed to provide clean air with high efficiency, which need to be considered in the hospitals construction. It is also imperative for health care administrators to ensure implementation of the infection control program in health care facilities. This study aimed to evaluate the environmental infection control (EIC) measures in the general ICUs in Gaza. Methodology: A three-months descriptive cross sectional study was done to evaluate the two main general ICUs in Gaza" Shifa Complex and European Gaza Hospital (EGH)". A total of 196 microbiological samples for air, water, and inanimate surfaces were surveyed. Both ambient air and inspiratory air from mechanical ventilator machines (MV) were sampled and cultured for bacterial and fungal count. Also, 20 water specimens were tested for bacterial presence. In addition, 120 swabbed cultures from surfaces and equipments were growing in a preenrichment media before incubation. Moreover, a total of 516 reading for climate temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) were gathered as the most important factors assist in bacterial multiplication. Results: The study revealed that 62% of the infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in Shifa ICU were unfit, in comparison with EGH ICU …