Mandatory reporting system reduced health care-associated infections in France

ATLANTA — Incorporating mandatory public reporting systems for health care facilities in France may have contributed to declining rates of health care-associated infections there, according to a speaker here at the Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections.

France’s first national infection control program specified a number of objectives and emphasized the use of mandatory public reporting on five indicators related to the health care facility, said Christian Brun-Buisson, MD, chair of the national infection control program at Hôpital Henri Mondor in Paris. Facilities were then stratified by category and classified by performance.

Researchers recently evaluated the French program’s ability to decrease health care-associated infection rates by gathering aggregated data from the mandatory annual reports provided by each health care facility and national surveillance networks from 2005 to 2008.

“Many of the target objectives have been achieved,” said Laetitia May-Michelangeli, MD, of the Ministry of Health and Sports. “Most health care facilities (89%) have reached the best performance class for the global indicator of [health care-associated infection] control, based on facility type, resources and activities.”

Data also show improvement among the program’s other goals:

94% of health care facilities have infection control teams.
90% developed evaluation programs.
96% have organized a sentinel events alert.
89% have an anti-infective drug committee.
97% produced guidelines for surgical prophylaxis.
88% monitor antibiotic consumption.
96% provide information on nosocomial infections.

Furthermore, results of the five indicators indicated progress, according to the researchers, with 70% of health care facilities having advanced by at least one class in three years for use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and 70% having reached the highest class for antibiotic stewardship. Additionally, 95.5% of the hospitals in France have organized surveillance strategies for surgical site infections.

“The national mandatory public reporting system has helped health care facilities to improve their infection control measures,” Brun-Buisson said. “Not only do these facilities have funding tied to their compliance with the program, but the media in France now publish a list of best- and worst-performing hospitals based on each facility’s annual report.”

The researchers also said the prevalence of infected patients decreased by 12%, and cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus decreased by 40% since the program’s introduction. – by Melissa Foster

For more information:

May-Michelangeli L. #675. Presented at: Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections; March 18-22, 2010; Atlanta.