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Epidemiology, Therapy and Costs of Nosocomial Infection

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Summary

In the current climate of cost containment a nd qualit y control, nosocomial infection is a worrisome adverse evcnt in hospital care. Hospitaliscd paticnts rcquire care for increasingly scvere illncsses. and are therefore morc susceptible to infection. especially by opponunistic micro–organisms. It is thus nccessary to accurately assess and adjust for the severity of the underlying illness in studies of risk factors involved in nosocomial infections.

The appearance of new diagnostic and therapeutic tcch niques providcs novcl opponunities for infection control and rcpresents a constant challenge to hospital systems. The continuous selection of resistant flora, together with the identification of new pathogens, call s for a reconsiderat ion of hospital policies regarding the dispensation of antibiotics.

Epidemiological surveillance continucs to be the most imponant aspect of attempts to monitor in fection control programmes, and to identify changes in risk factors that may increase the infection rate. Among the major challenges now facing the infection cont rol practitioner is the use of nosocomial infection ratcs as an indicator of quality of care. Awareness of infection statistics would servc as a stimulus to the prevention and control of infection, but would be useless if not accompanied by adequate systems to guarantce the comparability of data from different studies and centres. Suitably sensitive and specific surveillance systoms should be developed, and the use of site–specific and procedure–specific infection rates adjusted for the patient’s intrinsic risk should be encouraged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Granada, Avenida de Madrid 11, 18012, Granada, Spain

    Ramón Gálvez-Vargas, Aurora Bileno-Cavanillas & Miguel García-Martín

  2. Service of Preventive Medicine, University Hospital of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Ramón Gálvez-Vargas

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  1. Ramón Gálvez-Vargas
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  2. Aurora Bileno-Cavanillas
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  3. Miguel García-Martín
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Gálvez-Vargas, R., Bileno-Cavanillas, A. & García-Martín, M. Epidemiology, Therapy and Costs of Nosocomial Infection. Pharmacoeconomics 7, 128–140 (1995). https://doi.org/10.2165/00019053-199507020-00005

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