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Introduction: The human population is aging at an astonishing rate. The aim of this study is to capture a situation snapshot revealing the proportion of individuals aged 65 years and over among inpatients in healthcare institutions in Turkey and the prevalence and type of infections in this patient group in order to draw a road map. Materials and Methods: Hospitalized patients over 65 years at any of the 62 hospitals in 29 cities across Turkey on February 9, 2017 were included in the study. Web-based SurveyMonkey was used for data recording and evaluation system. Results: Of 17,351 patients 5871 (33.8%) were ≥65 years old. The mean age was 75.1 ± 7.2 years; 3075 (52.4%) patients were male. Infection was reason for admission for 1556 (26.5%) patients. Pneumonia was the most common infection. The median length of hospital stay was 5 days (IQR: 2–11 days). The Antibiotic therapy was initiated for 2917 (49.7%) patients at the time of admission, and 23% of the antibiotics prescribed were inappropriate. Healthcare-associated infections developed in 1059 (18%) patients. Urinary catheters were placed in 2388 (40.7%) patients with 7.5% invalid indication. Conclusion: This study used real data to reveal the proportion of elderly patients in hospital admissions. The interventions done, infections developed during hospitalization, length of hospital stay, and excessive drug load emphasize the significant impact on health costs and illustrate the importance of preventive medicine in this group of patients.

Introduction: In this study, we aimed to determine the risk factors associated with inadequate empirical antibiotherapy (IEAT) and hospital-related mortality in elderly patients being treated for upper urinary tract infections (UTI). Materials and Methods: This study included individuals aged 65 years and over who were hospitalized after being diagnosed of communityacquired UTI or community-onset healthcare-associated UTI and followed-up in clinics and/or intensive care units (ICU) of 33 hospitals between March and September 2017. Results: A total of 525 patients (48% males; mean age: 76.46±7.93 years) were included in the study. Overall, 68.2% of the patients were hospitalized through the emergency department and 73.9% of patients were followed-up for pyelonephritis. Gram-negative, Gram-positive, and Gram-negative and positive mix growths were determined in 88%, 9.3%, and 2.7% of urine cultures, respectively. Fifty-six (10.7%) of the patients died. In multivariate analysis, the presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [Odds ratio (OR): 2.278], age 85 years and over (OR: 2.816), admission to the ICU (OR: 14.831), and IEAT (OR: 2.364) were independent factors that significantly affected mortality. The presence of a urinary catheter, being followed-up in the ICU, benign prostate hypertrophy, use of antibiotics other than piperacillin-tazobactam and carbapenem were determined as independent factors that significantly affected IEAT (p

Introduction: Hand hygiene is one of the most cost-effective infection control measures. In this multicenter study we analyzed the hand hygiene compliance observation results of 15 hospitals in Turkey. Materials and Methods: This study was performed in the intensive care units of 15 hospitals (eight tertiary-care educational hospitals, six state hospitals, and one private hospital) from 11 cities located in six regions of Turkey. The observations were made by infection control practitioners according to the World Health Organization (WHO) - Five Moments for Hand Hygiene (WHO-5) indications rule for hand hygiene and overall compliance rates were calculated. Observations were unblinded (healthcare professionals knew that they were observed). The study period included 2015 and 2016 calendar years. Results: There was a statistically significant increase in hand hygiene compliance rates in 2016 versus 2015. The overall number of hand hygiene opportunities and instances of compliance in 2015 and 2016 were 60071/78116 (76.9%) and 66551/83607 (79.6%) (p=0.0001), respectively. Nurses were the most compliant group in both years. The highest compliance was after body fluid exposure (88.2% in 2015 and 91.4% in 2016), while the lowest compliance was before patient contact (61.3% in 2015 and 65% in 2016). Conclusion: The presented data suggest that under unblinded observations, hand hygiene compliance seems to be in relatively acceptable rates in Turkey. Centers with compliance rates below the 50th percentile in any of the five moments should increase efforts to enhance compliance for that indication.

Introduction: Hand hygiene is one of the most effective infection control measures to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HCAI). Water, soap, paper towel and hand disinfectant must be available and adequate in terms of effective hand hygiene. The adequacy of hand hygiene products or keeping water-soap and paper towel is still a problem for many developing countries like Turkey. In this multicenter study, we analyzed the adequacy in number and availability of hand hygiene products. Materials and Methods: This study was performed in all intensive care units (ICUs) of 41 hospitals (27 tertiary-care educational, 10 state and four private hospitals) from 22 cities located in seven geographical regions of Turkey. We analyzed water, soap, paper towel and alcohol-based hand disinfectant adequacy on four different days, two of which were in summer during the vacation time (August, 27th and 31st 2016) and two in autumn (October, 12th and 15th 2016). Results: The total number of ICUs and intensive care beds in 41 participating centers were 214 and 2357, respectively. Overall, there was no soap in 3-11% of sinks and no paper towel in 10-18% of sinks while there was no alcohol-based hand disinfectant in 1-4.7% of hand disinfectant units on the observation days. When we compared the number of sinks with soap and/or paper towel on weekdays vs. weekends, there was no significant difference in summer. However, on autumn weekdays, the number of sinks with soap and paper towel was significantly lower on weekend days (p

Introduction: In this multicenter study, we analysed the magnitude of healthcare worker (HCW) [infection control practitioner (ICP), nurses and others] workforce in hospitals participated in the study. Materials and Methods: This study was performed in 41 hospitals (with intensive care units-ICU) located in 22 cities from seven regions of Turkey. We analysed the ICP workforce, nursing and auxiliary HCW (AHCW) workforce in ICUs, number of ICU beds and occupied beds in four different days [two of which were in summer during the vacation time (August 27 and 31, 2016) and two others in autumn (October 12 and 15, 2016)]. The Turkish Ministry of Health (TMOH) requires two patients per nurse in level 3 ICUs, three patients per nurse in level 2 ICUs and five patients per nurse in level 1 ICUs. There is no standardization for the number of AHCW in ICUs. Finally, one ICP per 150 hospital beds is required by TMOH. Results: The total number of ICUs, ICU beds and ICPs were 214, 2377 and 111, respectively in he 41 participated centers. The number ICPs was adequate only in 12 hospitals. The percentage of nurses whose working experience was 2. The number of patients per other HCW was minimum 3.75 and maximum 4.89 on weekdays and on day shift while it was minimum 5.02 and maximum 7.7 on weekends or on night shift. When we compared the number of level 1, 2 and 3 ICUs with adequate nursing workforce vs inadequate nursing workforce, the p value was