Abstract

Background

The German national nosocomial infection surveillance system, KISS, has a component for very low birth weight (VLBW) infants (called NEO-KISS) which changed from a system with voluntary participation and confidential data feedback to a system with mandatory participation and confidential feedback.

Methods

In order to compare voluntary and mandatory surveillance data, two groups were defined by the surveillance start date. Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) parameters and infection rates of the NICUs in both groups were compared. In order to analyze the surveillance effect on primary bloodstream infection rates (BSI), all VLBW infants within the first three years of participation in both groups were considered. The adjusted effect measures for the year of participation were calculated.

Results

An increase from 49 NICUs participating in 2005 to 152 in 2006 was observed after the introduction of mandatory participation. A total of 4280 VLBW infants was included in this analysis. Healthcare-associated incidence densities rates were similar in both groups. Using multivariate analysis with the endpoint primary BSI rate and comparing the first and third year of participation lead to an adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 0.78 (CI95 0.66-0.93) for old (voluntary) and 0.81 (CI95 0.68-0.97) for new (mandatory) participants.

Conclusions

The step from a voluntary to a mandatory HCAI surveillance system alone may lead to substantial improvements on a countrywide scale.

Background

Two MRSA surveillance components exist within the German national nosocomial infection surveillance system KISS: one for the whole hospital (i.e. only hospital based data and no rates for individual units) and one for ICU-based data (rates for each individual ICU). The objective of this study was to analyze which surveillance system (a hospital based or a unit based) leads to a greater decrease in incidence density of nosocomial MRSA

Methods

Two cohort studies of surveillance data were used: Data from a total of 224 hospitals and 359 ICUs in the period from 2004 to 2009. Development over time was described first for both surveillance systems. In a second step only data were analyzed from those hospitals/ICUs with continuous participation for at least four years. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to compare incidence densities between different time intervals.

Results

In the baseline year the mean MRSA incidence density of hospital acquired MRSA cases was 0.25 and the mean incidence density of ICU-acquired MRSA was 1.25 per 1000 patient days. No decrease in hospital-acquired MRSA rates was found in a total of 111 hospitals with continuous participation in the hospital- based system. However, in 159 ICUs with continuous participation in the unit-based system, a significant decrease of 29% in ICU-acquired MRSA was identified.

Conclusions

A unit-based approach of surveillance and feedback seems to be more successful in decreasing nosocomial MRSA rates, compared to a hospital-based approach. Therefore each surveillance system should provide unit-based data to stimulate activities on the unit level.

Background

By analysing the data of the intensive care unit (ICU) component of the German national nosocomial infection surveillance system (KISS) during the last ten years, we have observed a steady increase in the MRSA rates (proportions) from 2001 to 2005 and only a slight decrease from 2006 to 2010. The objective of this study was to investigate the development of the incidence density of nosocomial MRSA infections because this is the crucial outcome for patients.

Findings

Data from 103 ICUs with ongoing participation during the observation period were included. The pooled incidence density of nosocomial MRSA infections decreased significantly from 0.37 per 1000 patient days in 2001 to 0.15 per 1000 patient days in 2010 (RR = 0.40; CI95 0.29-0.55). This decrease was proportional to the significant decrease of all HCAI during the same time period (RR = 0.61; CI95 0.58-0.65).

Conclusions

The results underline the need to concentrate infection control activities on measures to control HCAI in general rather than focusing too much on specific MRSA prevention measures. MRSA rates (proportions) are not a very useful indicator of the situation.