Comparative study of the incidences of hospital infections in the burn department: the years 2015 vs. 2022

Introduction:
Patients with burn injuries are particularly vulnerable to nosocomial infections due to the loss of the skin’s protective barrier. De-spite the improvement in the survival rates of burn patients in recent years, nosocomial infections are still a significant problem and are a significant threat to the treatment process.

Material and methods:
A retrospective comparative cohort study was conducted. A comparative analysis was made of the medical records of patients hospi-talized at the burn unit, hospitalized in 2015 and 2022, who had a nosocomial infection.

Results:
In 2022, a statistically significant, higher percentage of patients with nosocomial infection was recorded compared to 2015 (chi-square (χ²) = 11.635, p < 0.05). Both in 2015 and 2022, the dominant bacteria were Gram (–) Acinetobacter baumannii. In the case of bacteria (Klebsiella pueumoniae) a statistically significant decrease in infections caused by this pathogen was found in 2022 com-pared to 2015 (χ² = 4.3835, p < 0.05). In 2015, the dominant Gram (+) bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus MRSA, while in 2022 a statistically significant decrease in infections with this strain was noted (χ² = 78.729, p < 0.05). The dominant type of fungi in 2015 was Candida albicans, while in 2022 a statistically significant decrease in the proportion of this pathogen was recorded (χ² = 41.7053, p < 0.05). In 2015, Gram (–) had the largest share in isolated pathogens, and in 2022 there was a significant decrease in their proportion in relation to the total (χ² = 14.301, p < 0.05). In 2022 there was a statistically significant increase in the propor-tion of Gram (+) compared to 2015 (χ² = 21.185, p < 0.05).

Conclusions:
Nosocomial infections are still a significant problem in the treatment of patients after burn injury, and they require constant super-vision and close control. Over the period of 7 years, there was a significant change in the dominant pathogens responsible for the occurrence of nosocomial infections in the burn units.