ARAÚJO, T. O.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/8031037065925876; ARAÚJO, Tainá Oliveira de.
Abstract:
Objective: To identify in the literature the most frequent pathogenic agents and the main
risk factors for Healthcare Related Infections (HAIs) in the hospital environment.
Method: This is an integrative review prepared according to PRISMA recommendations
and developed after completing six stages: identification of the theme and selection of the
research question for the elaboration of the integrative review; establishment of criteria
for inclusion and exclusion of studies/sampling or literature search; definition of
information to be extracted from selected studies/categorization of studies; evaluation of
studies included in the integrative review; interpretation of the results and presentation of
the knowledge review/synthesis. The following guiding question was elaborated: What
are the main pathogenic agents and risk factors for Health Care-Related Infections in the
hospital environment? The search was carried out in the PubMed Central, Web of
Science, LILACS and Scorpus databases, covering the period from May to June 2023.
For the search for articles, controlled descriptors were selected, after consulting the
vocabularies in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeSC) and Medical Subject Headings
(MESH), “patient care team”, “hospitalized patients”, “hospital infection”, “hospital
care” and “hospitalization”, in English and Portuguese. The time interval from 2018 to
2023 was used, and articles that did not respond to the guiding question were excluded.
1,480 articles were identified. The sample consisted of eighteen articles. Results: The
main microorganisms associated with the etiology of HAIs are Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(55.6%), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (44.5%), Klebsiella pneumoniae
(38.9%), Acinetobacter baumannii (33.3%) and Clostridioides difficile (27.8%). The
main risk factors identified were: comorbidities (72.2%); multiple invasive procedures
(66.7%); admission to the ICU (55.6%); prolonged hospital stay (55.6%) and misuse or
inappropriate use of antimicrobials (50%). Conclusion: The microorganisms most
frequently associated with ARIs were bacteria, although most of the time non-pathogenic
they are able to quickly overcome the low resistance of immunosuppressed patients
causing infectious diseases. HAI may have risk factors related to the individual, previous
health conditions and the assistance of health professionals. The identification of
microorganisms most frequently related to HAI helps in choosing the appropriate
antimicrobial therapy, as well as knowledge of risk factors for these adverse events is
important for identifying more vulnerable subgroups. Thus, the implementation of
permanent health education actions on the subject is essential, in addition to the need to
implement protocols with preventive measures for HAI and the improvement of biosafety
practices in the hospital environment are fundamental to reduce the incidence of these
infections, guaranteeing quality in patient care and safety.
