Surveillance of infection in neonatal intensive care units

Monitoring infection rates is increasingly regarded as an important contributor to safe and high quality health care, especially in intensive care settings. Early-onset neonatal sepsis rates are an important indicator of ante- and intra-partum care, especially as medicalisation of obstetric practice increases. However, surveillance of late-onset neonatal sepsis is required to monitor the quality of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)-related care. Infection surveillance on NICUs presents a number of unique challenges, including defining infections, the preponderance of coagulase-negative staphylococci as both pathogens and commensals, and allowing for the influence of important risk factors. Ideally an infection surveillance programme should permit benchmarking of infection rates, and multi-centre programmes have been reported to decrease the incidence of healthcare-associated infections on NICUs. However, further research is required to identify the most clinically- and cost-effective means of surveying NICU-acquired infections before a national programme can be implemented. Until then, considerable value can be obtained from local infection surveillance.