An Evaluation of the Implementation of Nosocomial Infections Surveillance in Hospitals Affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan, Iran

The national nosocomial infection surveillance program was established in Iran since 2007 to control and manage nosocomial infections. Since the evaluation of this program can assist in the nosocomial infections control, the present study aimed to evaluate the implementation of this program in hospitals in Isfahan, Iran.
This descriptive study was conducted in 2015. Through census method, 11 hospitals and academic medical centers affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, located in Isfahan city, were entered into the study. Data were gathered using a checklist that was developed based on the national guideline for nosocomial infection surveillance and its validity and reliability were tested. The checklist consisted of 47 closed items, and was completed through on-site visiting and reviewing of documents and was analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS software.
Findings: The percentage of scores for different dimensions of nosocomial infection surveillance program were 96.50% (desirable) for organization, 82.81% (desirable) for planning and policy, 80.00% (desirable) for preparing and distribution of report, 75.00% (average) for interventions, 58.50% (average) for controlling antibiotic's resistance, and 96.30% (desirable) for designing and implanting educational programs.
Regarding the status of the intervention and the controlling antibiotic's resistance dimensions which were moderate, adopting new guidelines for the purpose of preventing the prescription of antibiotics without an antibiogram and a general decrease in the usage of antibiotics of all kinds are recommended. Moreover, designing local intervention programs for the purposes of decreasing the occurrence of nosocomial infections and the evaluation of the efficiency of these strategies are also suggested.