Reducing Staphylococcus aureus infections in the neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

Objective: Our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) saw an increase in Staphylococcus aureus (SA) infections-methicillin-resistant SA (MRSA) infections increased from 2.1/10,000 patient days (PD) to 5.1/10,000 PD, and methicillin-sensitive SA (MSSA) infections from 1.2/10,000 PD to 3.9/10,000 PD. This quality improvement project aimed to decrease the rates of SA infections to less than 2.0/10,000 PD, and to determine the rate of SA decolonization.

Methods: Infection prevention interventions targeted patient factors (SA surveillance, patient cohorting, decolonization protocol), provider factors (provider cohorting, enhanced hand hygiene) and environmental factors (room structure, equipment optimization).

Results: The rates of MRSA and MSSA infections decreased to 0.6/10,000 PD and 0.7 infections/10,000 PD respectively. Persistent decolonization of SA was successful in 67% of colonized patients.

Conclusions: Specific interventions targeting patient, provider, and environmental factors, including the implementation of a SA decolonization protocol, were successful in decreasing the incidence of SA infections in neonates.