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Costs of Nosocomial Infections in the ICU and Impact of Programs to Reduce Risks and Costs

This study was undertaken to document the costs of nosocomial infections in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the impact of programs to reduce risks and costs of these infections. MEDLINE was searched from 1990 to 2000. The search strategy was: costs OR economics AND intensive care unit AND nosocomial infection ‘AND guidelines’ was added in a secondary search. The overall additional costs associated with hospital-acquired infections in the ICU varied from $3000 to $40,000 per patient and is associated with an additional length of stay of 5 days to roughly 3 weeks. The mean cost of antibiotics has been estimated from $1000 to $16,000. Implementing guidelines and screening and isolation programs reduced the rate of infection and the costs both of both antiinfectious agents and hospital days. The expected savings from reduction in the rate and severity of nosocomial infections offset the costs of implementing prevention programs.