Culture-Positivity and Sensitivity in Post-Surgical Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Hospital-Acquired Infection (HAI) is a serious health hazard across the world, being a major contributor to the rate of morbidity and mortality. Inadequate evidence is available on the magnitude of hospital-acquired infections in tertiary care hospitals of Pakistan, thus resulting in a poor focus on this aspect of quality of care.

Aims & Objectives: The study aims to measure the frequency of post-op culture-positivity, sensitivity, and its associated attributes in a tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan.

Place and duration of study: Tertiary care teaching hospital in Lahore, Punjab from April to July, 2016.

Material & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a public sector, tertiary care, teaching hospital in Lahore using secondary data. All discharged patients’ files from surgical and allied specialties, operated from 1^st Oct, 2015 to 31^st Dec 2015, having ages between 18 to 60 years and of both gender, were included consecutively in the study. Data was collected on a structured, self-constructed form and analyzed through SPSS version 21.

Results: Out of the total 420 patient files, 47 (11.2%) had culture positive reports, out of which 74.5% had UTIs, 17% tissue/wound infection, 4.3% fluid infections and 4.3% had other site infections. 46% of the females and 32% of the males were found to be culture positive out of the suspects of HAI. The highest infection rate was found among patients of urology (71%), while there was no positive culture found for neurosurgery patients. The most frequently found organisms in cultures were Coliform species (38%), Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (13%), followed by Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus Aureus and Candida Albican. Mixed growth was found in 26% of the cultures. The antibiotic sensitivity of the cultures was to Amikacin (38.3%), Imipenem (29.8%), Tazocin (21.3%) and Gentamycin (14.9%). The antibiotic resistance among the cultures was to; Ciproxin (44.7%), Amoxicillin (34.0%), Cefotaxime (31.9%) and Ampicillin (23.4%).

Conclusion: The infection rate among suspects of HAI, was found to be high in this study which calls for an urgent need of robust infection control policy and strategies.