Results from the Scottish national HAI prevalence survey

Reilly, J. and Stewart, S. and Allardice, G.M. and Noone, A. and Robertson, C. and Walker, A. and Coubrough, S., The Scottish Executive Health Department HAI Task Force (Funder) (2008) Results from the Scottish national HAI prevalence survey. Journal of Hospital Infection, 69 (1). pp. 62-68. ISSN 0195-6701 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2008.02.019)

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Abstract

A national point prevalence survey was undertaken over the period of one calendar year in Scotland from October 2005 to October 2006. The prevalence of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) was 9.5% in acute hospitals and 7.3% in non-acute hospitals. The highest prevalence of HAI in acute hospital inpatients was found in the following specialties: care of the elderly (11.9%), surgery (11.2%), medicine (9.6%) and orthopaedics (9.2%). The lowest prevalence was found in obstetrics (0.9%). The most common types of HAI in acute hospital inpatients were: urinary tract infections (17.9% of all HAI), surgical site infections (15.9%) and gastrointestinal infections (15.4%). In non-acute hospitals one in ten inpatients in two specialties (combined) medicine (11.4%) and care of the elderly (7.8%) was found to have HAI, and one in 20 inpatients in psychiatry (5.0%) had HAI. In non-acute hospital patients, urinary tract infections were frequent (28.1% of all HAI) and similarly skin and soft tissue infection (26.8% of all HAI). When combined, these two HAI types affected 4% of all the inpatients in non-acute hospitals. This is the first survey of its kind in Scotland and describes the burden of HAI at a national level.

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