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Abstract
Hospital epidemics of gram-negative infections threaten surgical patients. Septicemia
developed in thirteen patients after various surgical procedures in a private urban
hospital in September and October 1970, and twelve of these patients yielded gram-negative
organisms upon blood culture.
Clinical signs of thrombophlebitis associated with positive blood cultures in the
absence of other reasonable clinical sources of sepsis suggest that intravenous infusion
methods were responsible. Patterns of antibiotic resistance and prevalence of usage
indicate at least a background of inappropriate antibiotic therapy in the institution
as a whole.
The following recommendations are suggested to obviate future epidemics: (1) laboratory
guidance for treatment of hospital infections; (2) careful surveillance of infections
in hospitalized patients; (3) meticulous aseptic skin preparation prior to venous
cannulations; (4) utilization of stainless steel needles in peripheral veins for short-term
needs (that is, forty-eight hours or less) for standard operative procedures; (5)
utilization of large caliber upper torso central veins when more durable and reliable
long-term venous routes are needed for extensive surgical procedures.
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Altemeier WA: Personal communication.
Article info
Footnotes
☆Presented at the Twenty-Second Annual Session of the Kentucky Surgical Society, Lake Cumberland State Park, Jamestown, Kentucky, May 14, 1971.
Identification
Copyright
© 1972 Published by Elsevier Inc.
