Volume 7, Number 2—April 2001
THEME ISSUE
4th Decennial International Conference on Nosocomial and Healthcare-Associated Infections
Prevention is Primary
Infection Control in Home Care
Emily Rhinehart
Table
Criteria for inclusion in definitions of home-care-acquired infectiona
| Site of infection | Clinical data | Laboratory data |
|---|---|---|
| Catheter-related UTIb | Change in characteristics of urine | Elevated serum leukocytes |
| Fever | Evidence of UTI in urinalysis | |
| Pain | Evidence of leukocytes in urine dipstick test | |
| Positive urine culture (>105 CFU of a single organism per mL urine) | ||
| Postoperative pneumonia | Change in character of sputum | Elevated serum leukocytes |
| Decreased breath sounds | Sputum Gram-stained smear with | |
| Increase in rales and rhonchi | evidence of respiratory infection | |
| Fever | Positive sputum culture | |
| Shortness of breath | Positive chest X ray | |
| Pain | ||
| Catheter-related bloodstream infection | Fever with chills and rigors | Elevated serum leukocytes |
| Redness, tenderness, or pain at insertion site | Positive blood culture | |
| Purulent drainage at site | Positive catheter culture (after catheter removal) | |
| Skin and soft tissue infection | Pain, swelling, tenderness at site | Gram-stain smear with leukocytes and organisms |
| Inflammation and warmth | Positive culture | |
| Purulent drainage | Elevated serum leukocytes | |
| Fever | ||
| Endometritis in postpartum patients | Uterine tenderness and abdominal pain | Positive Gram-stain smear of lochia |
| Purulent vaginal drainage (lochia) | Positive culture of lochia | |
| Foul-smelling lochia | Remarkably elevated serum leukocytes | |
| Fever |
aSource: Rhinehart E, Friedman M. Infection control in home care. Gaithersburg (MD): Aspen Publishing, Inc.;1999 (22). bUTI = urinary tract infection.
