Comparison of infection of injectable serum solutions administered by upper and lower air bleeding in patients hospitalized in surgical wards

Abstract

Background and Aim: Because hospital infections are one of the major causes of increasing the length of hospital stay, increasing the cost of treatment and mortality and morbidity in patients hospitalized in different wards of the hospital, especially the surgical wards, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of infection due to injectable serums administered by the two methods upper and lower air bleeding. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2014 at Kashani Hospital in Shahrekord, southwest of Iran. The microbial samples of 250 serums attached to patients hospitalized in different wards of the hospital were collected and were cultured in vitro. Data for serum characteristics, serum bleeding method, and patient's characteristics were collected by a checklist and analyzed by the SPSS version 22. Results: There was a significant association between the average time interval between serum attachment and sample collection in positive and negative culture samples, and the frequency distribution of microbial culture results with respect to time interval (P < 0.001). The result of microbial culture was negative in 247 cases (98.8) and positive in 3 cases (1.2). The bacteria grown in the culture medium were Acinetobacter in 1 case (0.4), fungus in 1 case (0.4), and Staphylococcus epidermidis in 1 case (0.4). There was no significant difference in the culture result in terms of bleeding method (P=0.59). Conclusion: Bleeding of injectable serum due to air pollution in hospital wards has contributed to the infection of these serums, and although the serum bleeding method did not differ in the number of cases of infection development, the number of infection development was higher for the serums administered by lower bleeding.