Table 3. Personnel involved in data collection for healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) surveillance in European acute care hospitals with HCAI surveillance, stratified by healthcare expenditure, United Nation regions, hospital size and infection control nurse rate – the Prevention of Hospital Infection by Intervention and Training (PROHIBIT) survey, 2011–2012 (n = 297 hospitals).

Personnel involved in data collection for HCAI surveillance	Total		HCEa				United Nation regionb								Hospital sizec in terms of number of beds						ICN/1,000 bedsd
			Low		High		Eastern		Northern		Southern		Western		≤ 300		301–600		> 600		≤ median		> median
	n = 297	%	n = 127	%	n = 170	%	n = 82	%	n = 70	%	n = 81	%	n = 64	%	n = 87	%	n = 109	%	n = 98	%	n = 150	%	n = 147	%
ICNe	217	73	70	55	147	86	45	55	50	71	65	80	57	89	62	71	79	72	73	74	99	66	118	80
Infection control physicianf	146	49	54	43	92	54	34	41	36	51	51	63	25	39	32	37	54	50	58	59	79	53	67	46
Ward nurse	61	21	31	24	30	18	21	26	22	31	13	16	5	8	19	22	28	26	13	13	28	19	33	22
Ward physician	97	33	39	31	58	34	26	32	29	41	25	31	17	27	31	36	39	36	26	27	44	29	53	36
Specific surveillance staff e.g. nurse or administrator	9	3	5	4	4	2	5	6	2	3	2	2	0	0	1	1	4	4	3	3	6	4	3	2
Audit nurse	46	15	22	17	24	14	13	16	18	26	9	11	6	9	10	11	16	15	19	19	23	15	23	16
Infection control personnel exclusively (ICN and/or infection control physician)	143	48	56	44	87	51	36	44	24	34	43	53	40	63	39	45	49	45	53	54	76	51	67	46
Ward personnel exclusively (ward nurse and/or ward physician)	27	9	19	15	8	5	15	18	7	10	4	5	1	2	13	15	12	11	2	2	14	9	13	9
Infection control personnel and ward personnel	97	33	38	30	59	35	24	29	29	41	27	33	17	27	28	32	38	35	30	31	45	30	52	35

FTE: full time equivalent; GDP: gross domestic product; HCE: healthcare expenditure; ICN: infection control nurse.

P values were calculated by logistic regression using generalised estimating equations, which account for cluster effects by country.

^a Low/high HCE defined as the share of the GDP ≤ / > the European mean in 2010 (9%) [16].

^b Geographical regions according to United Nations grouping [15]; Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe.

^c Hospital size according to number of acute care beds; ≤ 300 beds, 301 – 600 beds, > 600 beds; information available for 294 hospitals.

^d  ≤ / >  median defined as FTE ICN (internal staff and external staff) per 1,000 acute care hospital beds ≤ / > the median of all participating hospitals (3.72 FTE ICN/1,000 beds).

^e Differences between ≤ 300 beds / 301 – 600 beds / > 600 beds p < 0.05.

^f Differences between low/high HCE p < 0.05.