Use of contact precautions in the control of hospital infection in an intensive care unit: an integrative Review

Hospital Infections (HI) are a serious public health problem, so, the present study aimed at analyzing the strategies associated with contact precautions in the reduction of microorganisms in the ICU. This is an integrative review of the literature, using the following steps: development of the guiding question; search for studies in the databases; selection of articles; extraction of data from studies; evaluation of the selected studies; analysis and synthesis of the results and presentation of the review. The guiding question was: What are the strategies associated with contact precautions being used in the Intensive Care Unit to control Hospital Infection? Data were collected in the databases: National Library of Medicine (PUBMED), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), and Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS). The descriptors used were: Intensive Care Units, Hospital Infection, and Universal Precautions. The strategies associated with the contact precautions were: adoption of standard precautions, educational interventions, systematized actions, intensive process monitoring and risk management. Adherence to contact precaution measures, protocols and standards significantly reduce the incidence of HI, decreasing the length of hospital stay, as well as its costs.