[Analysis of contemporary hospital infrastructure pertaining to infection prevention in Germany]

A high percentage of single-bed rooms and antiseptic hand rub dispensers in hospitals are required for infection prevention

Data acquisition of the hospitals' current status of infrastructure pertaining to infection prevention

A electronic questionnaire was sent in March 2015 to all hospitals participating in the nosocomial infection surveillance system (KISS) to collect operational infrastructure data.

Completed questionnaires were received from 621 hospitals (response rate 46 %) and provided data about the building infrastructure of 534 intensive care units and 621 representative medical wards. While most beds in the intensive care unit are equipped with an antiseptic hand rub dispenser at the bedside, only 31.5 % of the medical ward beds are so equipped. Moreover, only 27.1 % of intensive care beds and 6.4 % of medical ward beds are in single-bed rooms. The intensive care room size showed a median of 18 m² for single-bed rooms and 28 m² for two-bed rooms. In the medical wards, 28.2 % of the patient rooms are not equipped with an ensuite toilet.

The paucity of bedside antiseptic hand rub dispensers in medical wards should be rectified at once to optimize hand hygiene compliance of health care workers. Likewise, the lack of single-bed rooms on medical wards and intensive care units should be considered when renovating old or planning new buildings in the near future.