Infection prevention networks and the role of the boundaryless hospital

Abstract

Annually, there are approximately 900,000 nosocomial infections in Germany. These infections are often caused by multi-resistant bacteria like MRSA. The spread of these bacteria is fostered by the inappropriate and unnecessary use of antibiotics in the inpatient and outpatient, and also agricultural sector. In order to prevent the spread of multi-resistant organisms, cross-sectoral, concerted actions of health facilities and the community have to be forced. Therefore structures have to be implemented that motivate the players in a health care system to make efforts in infection prevention and patient safety. For countries with a relatively high MRSA rate as it is the case in Germany, it is necessary to have a benchmark with regions or countries like the Netherlands which show a significantly lower MRSA rate. The factors which determine the success of the Dutch prevention strategy have to be clearly evaluated and constructively adopted according to the requirements of the German health care system. The superior aim is to connect the service sectors in the health care system to establish concerted actions in terms of infection prevention. Established regional infection prevention networks show successfully how to overcome sector boundaries as well as internal boundaries, e.g. in hospitals.