Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg and Slovenia are the countries where health professionals adhere most to hand hygiene in hospitals, according to data released today by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The data is part of the third point prevalence survey of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) and antimicrobials in acute care hospitals 2022-2023, coordinated by ECDC, released today at a press conference to mark World Hand Hygiene Day.
Data on the number of hand hygiene opportunities observed, which reflect the intensity of hand hygiene compliance monitoring during the most recent year, were reported by 1,022 hospitals from 23 countries in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA).
“The average number of hand hygiene opportunities observed in the previous year was 3.6 opportunities per 1,000 patient-days, with 23.3% of hospitals reporting no hand hygiene observations, and 3.9% of hospitals reporting more than 100 opportunities per 1,000 patient-days, mainly in Ireland, Italy and Portugal,” reads the report, to which Lusa news agency had access.
The results by country are presented as the percentage of hospitals with a number of hand hygiene opportunities observed per 1,000 patient-days higher than the median.
“The percentage of hospitals with a number of hand hygiene opportunities above the median ranged from 0% in Cyprus, Iceland, Kosovo and Montenegro to 80% or more in Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia,” the document points out.
The report also highlights that the number of beds with an alcohol gel dispenser for hand hygiene at the point of care was reported by 24 EU/EEA countries, both at hospital level by 685 hospitals and at ward level by 771.
The median percentage of beds with an alcohol gel dispenser at the point of care increased from 52.8% in the 2016-2017 survey to 63% in the 2022-2023 study.
According to the data, “the percentage varied from less than 10% in Bulgaria, Romania, Kosovo and Serbia to more than 90% in Hungary, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain”.
The percentage of antimicrobial agents administered parenterally (80%) was higher than in the previous survey (73%).
“Promoting an earlier switch from parenteral to oral administration of antimicrobial agents seems to be a priority in several Eastern European countries and in Portugal,” the document stresses.
Another conclusion of the survey is that “the specificity for detecting and notifying an HAI [Healthcare Associated Infections] was, on average, 98.4% and ranged from 95.2% in Portugal to 100% in Lithuania.
Every year, 4.3 million patients admitted to hospitals in European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries contract at least one healthcare-associated infection during their stay.
An increase in the use of antimicrobials was also observed compared to previous surveys. In the 2022-2023 study, 35.5% of patients received at least one antimicrobial agent, compared to 32.9% in the previous study (2016-2017).
On any given day, around 390,000 hospitalized patients in the EU/EEA receive at least one antimicrobial agent, says the ECDC, considering it “particularly worrying that one in three microorganisms detected in HAIs are bacteria resistant to important antibiotics, thus limiting the treatment options for infected patients”.
At least 20% of these infections are considered preventable through sustained and multifaceted infection prevention and control programs.
