Table 2.
Characteristics of participating hospitals, infection prevention and control (IPC) structure, resources, and practices
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Hospital size (number of beds), n (%) | |
| < 200 | 19 (45.23) |
| 200–500 | 19 (45.23) |
| ≥ 500 | 4 (9.52) |
| Ownership, n (%) | |
| Public | 39 (92.86) |
| Private | 0 |
| Not-for-profit | 3 (7.14) |
| Level of care, n (%) | |
| Basic | 9 (21.43) |
| Primary level | 19 (45.23) |
| Secondary level | 8 (19.05) |
| Specialized | 6 (14.29) |
| IPC structure and resources | |
| Infection control personnel, median (interquartile range, IQR) | |
| Full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors per 1000 beds | 2.03 (1.21 -2.78) |
| FTE nurses per 1000 beds | 6.71 (5.18 -9.22) |
| FTE stewardship consultants per 1000 beds | 0.15 (0 – 1.96) |
| Proportion of single rooms (% over all rooms), median (IQR) | 16.2 (11–23) |
| Diagnostic capacity: | |
| Number of blood cultures/year (per 1000 patient-days, PDs) | 60.1 (28.76–83.75) ab |
| Number of stool tests for Clostridium difficile/year (per 1000 PDs) | 5.72 (3.54 -8.57) ab |
| Possibility of requesting exams during the weekend, n (%) | 30 (71.43) |
| IPC practices | |
| Alcohol-based hand rub consumption/year (litres per 1000 PDs), median (IQR) | 24 (17–30)a |
| Participation surveillance networks, n (%) | |
| Surgical site infections | 38 (90.48) |
| Urinary tract infections | 32 (76.19) |
| C. difficile infections | 17 (40.48) |
| Antibiotic resistance | 35 (83.33) |
| Antibiotic use | 29 (69.05) |
| Other | 10 (23.81) |
a Data referring to the previous year (2021)
b Data available from 40 hospitals