Improving infection prevention practice in primary and community care

In March 2012, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published an update of the 2003 guideline that addressed infection prevention and control of healthcare-associated infection in primary and community care settings. In the development of the guideline little high-quality evidence from randomized controlled trials was found. This is an area where high-quality research would impact on future updates of NICE guidance and more robust recommendations could then be made. This article summarizes the main research recommendations made in the guideline and describes the process of making research recommendations when evidence from systematic reviews is lacking.