Incidence of cross infection in liver transplant patients. Risk factors and role of nursinge.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence and risk factors of infection in liver transplant recipients immediately post-transplant, during admission to a liver transplant unit during the immediate post-transplant admission.

METHODOLOGY: Descriptive, prospective study performed in the Liver Transplant Unit of Hospital Clínic, Barcelona. All liver transplant recipients between January 2012 and August 2015 (n=241) were included. Statistical analysis was performed with R Commander. Variables were compared with Chi-square and Student's t-test. A value of p≤.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS: The incidence of infection was 34.8%. The most frequent infections were bacterial (75.3%), particularly urinary infections (34.6%) caused by Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Independent risk factors for the development of bacterial infections according to multivariate analysis were sex, age and length of hospital stay.

CONCLUSIONS: Infections are a significant problem in the early post-transplant period, and are associated with longer hospitalisation periods. The role of nursing in preventing infections, by identifying risk factors, correctly applying nursing protocols in insertion, maintenance and early withdrawal of medical devices and fulfilling hand hygiene, is essential.