Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 16, 2022; 10(20): 7184-7186
Published online Jul 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i20.7184
Is every microorganism detected in the intensive care unit a nosocomial infection? Isn’t prevention more important than detection?
Fatma Yildirim, Irem Karaman, Mehmet Yildirim
Fatma Yildirim, Department of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, Pulmonary Intensive Care Unit, University of Health Sciences, Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital, Ankara 06110, Turkey
Irem Karaman, School of Medicine, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul 34740, Turkey
Mehmet Yildirim, Department of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine Intensive Care Unit, University of Health Sciences, Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital, Ankara 06110, Turkey
Author contributions: All authors have contributed sufficiently to the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fatma Yildirim, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, Pulmonary Intensive Care Unit, University of Health Sciences, Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara 06110, Turkey. fatma_bodur2000@yahoo.com
Received: March 11, 2022
Peer-review started: March 11, 2022
First decision: April 8, 2022
Revised: April 12, 2022
Accepted: May 22, 2022
Article in press: May 22, 2022
Published online: July 16, 2022
Processing time: 115 Days and 17.4 Hours
Abstract

The present letter to the editor is related to the study entitled “Multidrug-resistant organisms in intensive care units and logistic analysis of risk factors.” Not every microorganism grown in samples taken from critically ill patients can be considered as an infectious agent. Accurate and adequate information about nosocomial infections is essential in introducing effective prevention programs in hospitals. Therefore, the development and implementation of care bundles for frequently used medical devices and invasive treatment devices (e.g., intravenous catheters and invasive ventilation), adequate staffing not only for physicians, nurses, and other medical staff but also for housekeeping staff, and infection surveillance and motivational feedback are key points of infection prevention in the intensive care unit.

Keywords: Critical care; Prevention; Intensive care unit; Nosocomial infection; Detection

Core Tip: Microorganisms grown from every sample taken from critically ill patients cannot be considered as an infectious agent. Development and implementation of care bundles for frequently used medical devices and invasive treatment devices (e.g., intravenous catheters and invasive ventilation), adequate staffing not only for physicians, nurses and other medical staff but also for housekeeping staff, and infection surveillance and motivational feedback are key points of infection prevention in the intensive care unit. Providing accurate and adequate information about nosocomial infections is essential in introducing effective prevention programs in hospitals.