In this report, six supervision reports from intensive care units in six health trusts are summarized. Supervision was initiated after outbreaks of infection with the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa in several Norwegian hospitals during the winter of 2001-2002.
The main finding in the 6 units was that there were deficiencies to varying degrees in the following areas:
The hospitals’ infection control programmes, factors related to the actual buildings, the level of knowledge of the physicians about control of infection and hospital hygiene, routines for purchasing and reusing sterile disposable medical products, hospital leadership and systems for managing documents.
In the report, the Norwegian Board of Health recommends that the experience gained from supervision should be used to improve conditions, and that the central authorities should initiate appropriate measures.
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