The efficacy of a Florida hospital consortium for infection control: 1975-1982

From 1975 through 1982, the South Florida Hospital Consortium for Infection Control provided consultative and educational services to personnel of 20 community hospitals. To evaluate program efficacy, outbreak frequencies were compared at 11 hospitals with 5 to 8 years of experience through 1982. Annual outbreak rates during the first 4 membership years were compared with those of subsequent years, by service. Each hospital served as its own control. Outbreaks were most frequent in critical care and orthopedic-general surgery patients, and among hospital personnel. Critical care outbreaks occurred more often in hospitals classified as oncology centers (P less than .05); their frequency did not decrease significantly after 4 years of membership. However, surgical outbreak rates did decrease from .36 annually in the first years to .03 thereafter (P less than .01). This was not attributable to a secular decrease and is taken to indicate program efficacy. No change in frequency of hospital personnel outbreaks was evident.