Dr Ruth Barratt1, Dr Sally Roberts1,2, Dr Arthur Morris1, Ms Nikki Grae1
1Health Quality & Safety Commission, New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
2Microbiology, LabPlus, Auckland District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand
Introduction: Healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is an important cause of patient harm; however in Aotearoa New Zealand there is limited information on HAI in district health board (DHB) hospitals. The Health Quality and Safety Commission (HQSC) is the lead agency for current national HAI programmes – Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and cardiac and orthopaedic surgical site infections (SSI). In order to inform future programmes, the HQSC undertook a point prevalence survey of HAI in adult patients across all 20 DHB.
Methods: A team of trained surveyors visited relevant wards over a four month period in 2021. Data collected included the presence of an invasive medical device and recent surgical history. Patients currently prescribed antibiotics, or who had a temperature >38C in previous 24 hours, were further evaluated, using the European Centres for Disease Control HAI definitions.
Results: Of the 5,469 patients surveyed, 361 patients had a total of 423 HAIs. The point prevalence of HAIs was 6.6% and the HAI rate was 7.7 infections per 100 patients. The most frequent types of HAI were: SSI (25%); urinary tract infections (19%); pneumonia (18%); and bloodstream infections (13%). Sixty-six percent of all patients had at least one medical device in situ, and 53% of these were peripheral intravenous catheters. The most common isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (21%), Escherichia coli (20%) and Enterococcus species (12%).
Conclusion: The HAI rate is similar to that reported in other countries and regions. Focus for future HAI programmes includes reducing S. aureus infections associated with surgery and medical devices.
Biography: Dr Sally Roberts is the Clinical Lead for Microbiology and Medical Lead for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at Auckland District Health Board. She is an honorary senior lecturer at University of Auckland.
She is the Health Quality & Safety Commission New Zealand’s National Clinical Lead for the IPC programme supporting the Hand Hygiene New Zealand, Surgical Site Infection Improvement programme and other quality improvement programmes. She has a strong interest in clinical governance and patient safety.
Since 2020, she has been a member of the MOH National COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and chaired the IPC TAG.