Use of repeated point prevalence surveys for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections and antimicrobial use: an Italian region experience

Background. Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) has a regional patient safety programme that involves all the public and private healthcare facilities. In this context infection control is one of the most important topics in particular the prevention and control of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) together with the management of antimicrobials. Aim. The aim of our study was to collect data to evaluate the effectiveness of FVG infection control programmes and to set up the future steps. Methods. In October 2011 all acute hospital of FVG participated to the ECDC European point prevalence survey (PPS) of HAI and antimicrobial use (AU). In October 2013 the PPS was repeated according to the ECDC protocol. Results. Included patients were 3267 (2011) and 3360 (2013). HAI prevalence was 6.9% (2011) and 6.2% (2013), while AU was 40.7% (2011) and 39.0% (2013). Most important results were the decrease in 2013 of surgical site infection in the third level hospitals (19/1878) versus 2011 (37/1902) (OR 0.52 IC95% 0.30-0.90), the increase of pneumonia in 2013 in the first and second level hospitals (24/1105) versus 2011 (10/1023) (OR 2.22 IC95% 1.07-4.62) and the increase of one shot and less than 24 hours procedures for the surgical prophylaxis in 2013 (182/284) versus 2011 (181/322) (OR 1.39 IC95% 1.00-1.93). Discussion.The repeated use of ECDC PPS can be a very useful tool to provide valuable data, both to single healthcare facility and regional government, to evaluate the quality of care provided to patients and the impact of the implemented programmes. Making public these data can fulfil the 24/2011/EU directive.