Abstract

So far, too little attention has been paid to total burden of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in Iran. In the present study, we aimed to assess the rate of HAIs, as well as economic burden of hospitalization and antibiotic related cost associated with HAIs in ICU at training Taleghani hospital in Iran and to compare our results with national nosocomial infections surveillance (NNIS) system. This research to date for the first time has tended to focus on the economic burden of HAIs rather than epidemiology of HAIs evaluation. The total of 474 patients was followed up in this study. Overall, the rate of HAIs was 19.2 in which ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) was dominant HAIs and followed by urinary tract infection (UTI). Importantly, mortality rate increased significantly in infected patients. The highest total hospitalization economic burden and antibiotic related cost were observed for patients having blood stream infection (BSI). The results demonstrated significant differences between antibiotic related cost in patients and uninfected patients. Antibiotic related absolute extra cost for HAIs was 2.09 PPP per day. Estimation of direct annually HAIs associated economic burden of antibiotic and Total hospitalization was 433,382.4 PPP and 705,024 PPP respectively in Iran at intensive care unit (ICU). The most obvious findings were a strong relationship between relatively heavy antibiotic related financial burden, higher mortality rate, longer hospitalization time, and HAIs emergence on the Iranian national health system. It also reflects, more fundamentally a shift toward the need for comprehensive thinking about HAIs at ICU ward from Iran's hospitals. On the question of the research found that: With the implementation of policies and strategies to reduce hospital infections, which will benefit; Patient, Society, and/or national health system?!