Current Australian nosocomial infection surveillance activities: a survey of Australian Infection Control Association (AICA) members

Abstract

In July 2000, a national survey of the Australian Infection Control Association (AICA) membership was conducted to determine current surveillance activities in a range of health care facilities. A questionnaire was mailed to all AICA members within Australia (n = 1336) and achieved a response rate of 41 per cent (n = 551). Data were analysed using non-parametric statistics. Open-ended questions were manually coded and summarised. Findings from this study revealed that one third of infection control practitioners working in infection control have no formal qualifications in this specialty. Health care facilities engaged in significantly more hours of surveillance if they were hospitals (rather than residential care or other facilities; p<0.0001), were public facilities (p < 0.0001) and were located in metropolitan (p < 0.0001) or regional areas (p = 0.001). There was also a significant positive relationship between hours of surveillance conducted and the size of the facility (p < 0.0001). Fifty nine per cent of facilities used the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards definitions for nosocomial infections. Approximately three quarters of the facilities surveyed did not use computer programs for surveillance of infections or body substance exposures. Only 59 per cent of the facilities reported implementing preventive strategies based on surveillance programmes. These findings indicate the need for additional strategies to support facilities in designing and conducting surveillance programmes and implementing appropriate interventions.