Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the occurrence of catheter related blood stream infections in the critical care department when using antimicrobial coated central venous catheters. Design: Cross-sectional study.
Setting: Critical care unit, Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine University Hospital. Material and method: During the period 1. 4. 2007-31. 12. 2007 we monitored number of inserted catheters, duration of insertion and bacterial colonisation from the catheter tips and hemocultures.
Results: Overall number of inserted catheters was 270, mean insertion time was 7.5 days, 16 catheters (5.9%) were colonised, match with the hemocultures in 1 case (0.4%). This corresponds to 0.5/1000 catheter-day.
Conclusion: Compared to results in reference studies, our findings show higher rate of colonisation where as the percent occurrence is lower. Our results correspond to findings published in larger studies.