IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i17p6692-d1230059.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sink Drains in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Risk Assessment and Evaluation

Author

Listed:
  • Julia S. Schneider

    (Institute of Hygiene, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany)

  • Neele J. Froböse

    (Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany)

  • Thorsten Kuczius

    (Institute of Hygiene, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany)

  • Vera Schwierzeck

    (Institute of Hygiene, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany)

  • Stefanie Kampmeier

    (Institute of Hygiene, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
    Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany)

Abstract

Water systems in health care facilities can form reservoirs for Gram-negative bacteria. While planning a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), we performed a retrospective evaluation of potential risks from water-diverting systems on the existing NICU of our tertiary care University Hospital. During 2017 to 2023, we recorded nine nosocomial cluster events with bacterial pathogens in our NICU. Of these, three clusters of Gram-negative bacteria were potentially related to sink drains: A Klebsiella oxytoca , a Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and an Enterobacter hormaechei cluster were uncovered by clinical routine screening of patients and breastmilk samples. They were confirmed using whole-genome sequencing and a subsequent core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) algorithm. Our observations highlight that the implementation of sink drains in a NICU may have negative effects on patients’ safety. Construction planning should concentrate on the avoidance of washbasins in patient rooms when redesigning sensitive areas such as NICUs.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia S. Schneider & Neele J. Froböse & Thorsten Kuczius & Vera Schwierzeck & Stefanie Kampmeier, 2023. "Sink Drains in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Risk Assessment and Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-9, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6692-:d:1230059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6692/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6692/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6692-:d:1230059. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.