Structure for prevention of health care–associated infections in Brazilian hospitals: A countrywide study

• This study evaluated the structure for infection prevention in 153 Brazilian hospitals.
• The conformity index of main structure resources was identified.
• The conformity index of the infection prevention committee varied from 0.55-0.94 among hospital categories.
• Most hospitals did not have a laboratory of microbiology within their premises.
• The conformity index was balanced among components of the structure for infection prevention.

BackgroundMinimal structure is required for effective prevention of health care–associated infection (HAI). The objective of this study was to evaluate the structure for prevention of HAI in a sample of Brazilian hospitals.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study from hospitals in 5 Brazilian regions (n = 153; total beds: 13,983) classified according to the number of beds; 11 university hospitals were used as reference for comparison. Trained nurses carried out the evaluation by using structured forms previously validated. The evaluation of conformity index (CI) included elements of structure of the Health Care–Associated Prevention and Control Committee (HAIPCC), hand hygiene, sterilization, and laboratory of microbiology.ResultsThe median CI for the HAIPCC varied from 0.55-0.94 among hospital categories. Hospitals with >200 beds had the worst ratio of beds to sinks (3.9; P < .001). Regarding alcoholic product for handrubbing, the worst ratio of beds to dispensers was found in hospitals with <50 beds (6.4) compared with reference hospitals (3.3; P < .001). The CI for sterilization services showed huge variation ranging from 0.0-1.00. Reference hospitals were more likely to have their own laboratory of microbiology than other hospitals.ConclusionThis study highlights the need for public health strategies aiming to improve the structure for HAI prevention in Brazilian hospitals.