Pilot Project: Implanting an epidemiological surveillance system for hospitalar infections – Regional Health Branch of São José dos Campos (DIR XXI)

Abstract

The importance of Hospitalar Infections (HI) goes far beyond individual medical aspects, since    their endemic and often epidemical presentation places the problem as an issue of public health.    Adoption of an adequate epidemiological surveillance system is imperative for definition of    governmental actions. Taking into account the need for change in the epidemiological surveillance    system for HI in the State of São Paulo, a pilot project was undertaken, in the region of São José    dos Campos, in order to evaluate the feasibility to reproduce this system for the whole State of    São Paulo. The system selected HI indicators for general hospitals and those with long term    patients, applied with the use of Excel spreadsheets. These indicators were reported by 27    institutions whose personnel underwent previous specific training programs, during October, 2003    to July, 2005. Results revealed institutions were committed to the proposal, according to their    http://www.cve.saude.sp.gov.br/agencia/bepa22_ih.htm (1 de 18)30/1/2007 11:29:08    BEPA - BOLETIM EPIDEMIOLÓGICO PAULISTA    attention complexity. Most of these institutions (88.9%) reported infection data on clean surgeries;    15 (55.6%) of these reported data regarding Intensive Care Unities (ICU), 5 (18.5%) reported data    from Neonatal Intensive Care Unities and 2 (7.4%) reported data of HI in psychiatric hospitals.    Information regarding hemoculture agents in ICU was reported by 14 (51.9% of the hospitals.    Despite some limitations, the implanted system was considered feasible to be applied and ensues    focus of governmental actions designed to prevent and control HI.