Nosocomial infection surveillance and control policies

In the majority of countries costs for health care are increasing and strategies to reduce adverse events in medical treatment have an increasing importance. Nosocomial infection remains the most common type of complication affecting hospitalized patients. As preventive strategies have indeed become more important they now have to show not only that they are effective in reducing nosocomial infections but also that they are cost effective. This paper investigates the contribution made by articles published in the last year to the development of nosocomial-infection surveillance and control policies.

At least 15 randomized controlled studies and six meta-analyses investigating various infection-control policies were published last year. They did not lead to any changes in present guidelines, but rather endorsed existing recommendations. At least nine studies were found reporting a substantial reduction in nosocomial infections by the introduction of quality management principles under routine working conditions. Furthermore there were a lot of studies published which focused on optimizing surveillance measures and investigating the use of reference data for reducing infection rates. Only seven studies estimating the burden of disease were found in the literature of the past year.

The predominant opinion voiced in the studies was that in many medical institutions some 30% or more of nosocomial infections could be prevented.