How many infection control staff do we need in hospitals?

P. J. van den Broek; J. A.J.W. Kluytmans; L. C. Ummels; A. Voss; C. M.J.E. Vandenbroucke-Grauls

doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2006.10.003

How many infection control staff do we need in hospitals?

P. J. van den Broek^*
, J. A.J.W. Kluytmans
, L. C. Ummels
, A. Voss
, C. M.J.E. Vandenbroucke-Grauls

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During a one-day workshop experienced infection control practitioners (ICPs) and medical microbiologists debated how much time was needed for the delivery of infection control activities in a model hospital. They agreed a standard of one full-time equivalent (FTE) ICP per 178 hospital beds and one FTE medical microbiologist per 806 hospital beds. This is 40% and 24% more than the usual standard, respectively. Now that official numbers of hospital beds have become an inadequate parameter for work delivered by hospitals, a new standard is proposed, with the number of admissions as the denominator. This is one FTE ICP per 5000 admissions and one medical microbiologist or epidemiologist per 25 000 admissions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	108-111
Number of pages	4
Journal	Journal of Hospital Infection
Volume	65
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2006.10.003
Publication status	Published - Feb 2007
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Hospital epidemiologist
Hospital infection control
Infection control practitioner
Staffing

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jhin.2006.10.003

Cite this

@article{70cc4d71dbc94039b0ffb1e3f5175093,

title = "How many infection control staff do we need in hospitals?",

abstract = "During a one-day workshop experienced infection control practitioners (ICPs) and medical microbiologists debated how much time was needed for the delivery of infection control activities in a model hospital. They agreed a standard of one full-time equivalent (FTE) ICP per 178 hospital beds and one FTE medical microbiologist per 806 hospital beds. This is 40\% and 24\% more than the usual standard, respectively. Now that official numbers of hospital beds have become an inadequate parameter for work delivered by hospitals, a new standard is proposed, with the number of admissions as the denominator. This is one FTE ICP per 5000 admissions and one medical microbiologist or epidemiologist per 25 000 admissions.",

keywords = "Hospital epidemiologist, Hospital infection control, Infection control practitioner, Staffing",

author = "\{van den Broek\}, \{P. J.\} and Kluytmans, \{J. A.J.W.\} and Ummels, \{L. C.\} and A. Voss and Vandenbroucke-Grauls, \{C. M.J.E.\}",

year = "2007",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.jhin.2006.10.003",

language = "English",

volume = "65",

pages = "108--111",

journal = "Journal of Hospital Infection",

issn = "0195-6701",