Infection control in small hospitals. Prevalence surveys in 18 institutions

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Abstract
In prevalence surveys of 18 small hospitals in the intermountain region of the USA, 20.4% of the patients had community-acquired infections and 7.2% had infections acquired in the hospital. The types of nosocomial infections and patterns of antibiotic usage were similar to those encountered in large hospitals. In the small hospitals, 49% of the suspected bacterial infections were cultured; at a nearby large hospital 77% were cultured. Of these small hospitals, 17 had an infection-control committee but these comittees were unable to assess adequately the extent of their nosocomial infection problems. Monitoring of the environment with bacterial cultures was a frequent practice; overall, a ratio of one environmental culture was performed to each 3 diagnostic cultures. There is a need to develop and evaluate nosocomial infection control programs in small hospitals.

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