Chlorhexidine bathing and health care-associated infections: a randomized clinical trial.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Daily bathing of critically ill patients with the broad-spectrum, topical antimicrobial agent chlorhexidine is widely performed and may reduce health care-associated infections.

Objective

To determine if daily bathing of critically ill patients with chlorhexidine decreases the incidence of health care-associated infections.

Design, setting, and participants

A pragmatic cluster randomized, crossover study of 9340 patients admitted to 5 adult intensive care units of a tertiary medical center in Nashville, Tennessee, from July 2012 through July 2013.

Interventions

Units performed once-daily bathing of all patients with disposable cloths impregnated with 2% chlorhexidine or nonantimicrobial cloths as a control. Bathing treatments were performed for a 10-

SUBMITTER: Noto MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4383133 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature