Healthcare-associated Infections - Prevention

Nosocomial infections: prevention and measures

Hygiene in hospitals is understandably of particular importance in the prevention of nosocomial infections. Controls and regular training - not just for medical staff, but also for all professional groups involved in patient care - are essential. Hygiene teams take care of the coordination and compliance with preventive measures. Specialists in hygiene and microbiology play a key role in the hygiene teams…

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Hand hygiene most important measure

The “5 moments of hand hygiene” and other hygiene rules must be strictly adhered to in order to prevent the spread of hospital germs. The simplest and most important measure is hand disinfection. Furthermore, medical interventions (e.g. urinary catheter) should only be carried out when necessary. The immune system of patients should also be weakened as little as possible by treatments (e.g. cortisone).

In order to emphasize the shared responsibility of the patients, the Patient Safety Platform and the Safety in the Operating Theater initiative published the Hospital Infections flyer. What patients can do is developed. The information should show, among other things, which self-protection measures can be taken. In addition to talking to the doctor, this also includes paying attention to certain symptoms (e.g. redness, pain or leakage), knowledge of effective hand hygiene, information on avoiding antibiotic resistance and the possibilities of minimizing risk in connection with vaccinations.

Infection surveillance (infection surveillance)

Systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data on nosocomial infections creates the basis for preventive measures. Austria is internationally networked in this regard. The national networks include ANISS (Austrian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System) and ASDI (Austrian Center for Documentation and Quality Assurance in Intensive Care Medicine). These systems are embedded in the EU network HAI-Net (Healthcare-Associated Infection Surveillance Network).

The National Reference Center for Nosocomial Infections and Antibiotic Resistance (NRZ NIAMR) is located at the University Clinic for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Control of the Medical University of Vienna (Nosocomial Infections) and the Institute for Hygiene, Microbiology and Tropical Medicine of the General Hospital of the Elisabethinen Linz (Antimicrobial Resistance). The NRZ takes care of the networks for recording infections and antimicrobial resistance. The Austrian AURES resistance report and a report on nosocomial infections are also published annually. The report “Nosocomial Infections in Austria 2013.” by the Ministry of Health offers an overview of the topic, which also shows comparative figures to the EU average. Every year there are conferences on the “Hand Hygiene Day” and the “Austrian Antibiotics Day”.