Reducing hospital-acquired infections and improving the rational use of antibiotics in a tertiary care hospital in Bangalore

Prevention of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) is central to providing safe and high quality healthcare. Transmission of infection between patients by health workers, and the irrational use of antibiotics have been identified as preventable aetiological factors for HAIs. Few studies have addressed this in developing countries.To assess the effectiveness of a multifaceted infection control and antibiotic stewardship programme on HAIs and antibiotic use. A retrospective study was conducted for a study period of 11months (June 2021-April 2022) in Vydehi Hospital, Bangalore. All patients admitted to the intensive care unit and wards were included in the study. Intervention period was 6 months (June 2021-Nov 2021) and post-intervention period was 5 months (Dec 2021- April 2022). Assessment of HAIs was made based on the criteria from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The multifaceted intervention consisted of hand hygiene campaign, isolation of multidrug resistance organism’s patients, water and air quality analysis, training of health care workers in infection control practices, and antibiotic stewardship. Data was collected using an identical method in the intervention and post intervention periods.We observed a major reduction in HAIs, from 89% (198/222 patients) in the intervention period to 10.8% (24/222 patients) in the post intervention period (relative risk (RR) (95% CI) 0.48 (0.31 to 0.56). Antibiotic use in ICUs declined from 58% (780/1347) to 44% (442/995) (RR 0.44 (0.40 to 0.55). Overall, hand hygiene compliance among the health- care workers was maintained at 100% during both the periods. Multifaceted infection control interventions are effective in reducing HAI rates, improving the rational use of antibiotics, increasing hand hygiene compliance, and may reduce mortality in hospitalised patients in developing countries.