Training infection control and hospital hygiene professionals in Europe, 2010: agreed core competencies among 33 European countries.

The harmonisation of training programmes for infection control and hospital hygiene (IC/HH) professionals in Europe is a requirement of the Council recommendation on patient safety. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control commissioned the 'Training Infection Control in Europe' project to develop a consensus on core competencies for IC/HH professionals in the European Union (EU). Core competencies were drafted on the basis of the Improving Patient Safety in Europe (IPSE) project's core curriculum (CC), evaluated by questionnaire and approved by National Representatives (NRs) for IC/HH training. NRs also re-assessed the status of IC/HH training in European countries in 2010 in comparison with the situation before the IPSE CC in 2006. The IPSE CC had been used to develop or update 28 of 51 IC/HH courses. Only 10 of 33 countries offered training and qualification for IC/HH doctors and nurses. The proposed core competencies are structured in four areas and 16 professional tasks at junior and senior level. They form a reference for standardisation of IC/HH professional competencies and support recognition of training initiatives.

[Hospital clinical records accuracy in traceability of healthcare associated infections]. / Accuratezza della documentazione clinica ospedaliera nella tracciabilità delle infezioni correlate alle pratiche assistenziali.

We conducted a retrospective analysis on health care records in order to validate its accuracy in the reporting of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) for the purpose of supporting epidemiological surveillance and nursing-sensitive patient outcomes studies. The health care records have been selected on the basis of the database of alert microorganisms in a teaching Hospital of North-Eastern of Italy, for the years 2005-2006-2007 in three wards (Hematology, ICU and Surgical ward). In 80/107 (74.8%) cases of alert microorganisms a written record was found in the patient's health care records, most frequently in the nursing records (64/80, 80%). In the health care records have been reported 21 diagnosis of infection (21/107, 19.6%). The presence of written symptoms was heterogeneous among the different sources considered (medical and nursing records, vital parameters and therapy sheets). The results are not completely satisfactory from the point of view of the information accuracy. The promotion of integrated clinical health care record systems (doctors/nurses), also electronics, a more accurate compilation and periodical supervision would be needed.

[Compliance with handwashing in health care settings]. / Studio sulla compliance del lavaggio delle mani in ambito sanitario.

UNLABELLED: Many studies report low compliance with handwashing in health care settings, even if it is considered an important factor to reduce cross transmission. METHODS: Observational study in University Hospital with external observers. RESULTS: The observers recorded 1262 opportunities for handwashing among 49 nurses. The average of the opportunities was 8,8 handwashing/hour (d.s. +/- 5.05, range 0 divided by 23). The compliance was 19,3%. Compliance was higher in intensive care unit (25,6 %) than in medical ward (18,1 %) and surgical ward (13,9 %). There were no difference between males (19 %) and females (19.4%). Compliance with handwashing was significantly better in post procedure (34%) than in pre procedure (10.6%) and was worst when the workload was higher. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms the low adhesion to handwashing international recommendations and suggests to adopt "ad hoc" educational programs and suitable structural/operative conditions.