Additional analysis of national infection prevention and control (IPC) quality indicators (QI) data from Belgian acute care hospitals was conducted to support evidence-based recommendations for optimizing IPC staffing. This aligns with the Belgian Antibiotic Policy Coordination Committee (BAPCOC)’s initiative to evaluate and improve the IPC program in hospitals.

Data were collected from Belgian acute care hospitals between January and May 2024, using the 2019 quality indicators protocol[1]. Analyses were performed in R, with the objective to explore potential correlations between IPC staffing levels and activity indicators related to three WHO core components[2] of IPC: guidelines, surveillance, and monitoring/audit and feedback. Spearman correlation coefficients were used because of the non-normality of the variables.

Effective full-time equivalent (FTE) data were available for 91 hospitals. A weak positive correlation was found between IPC staffing and audit performance (r = 0.41, p < 0.001, n = 91). In contrast, correlations between staffing and both guideline development (r = 0.27, p = 0.009, n = 91) and surveillance execution (r = 0.21, p = 0.051, n = 91) were negligible.

A weak association between IPC staffing and audit activity suggests that audits are labour-intensive and may be deprioritized when staffing is limited. The absence of meaningful associations with guideline development and surveillance may reflect limited variation in guideline scores due to high baseline implementation levels, and the fact that surveillance quality depends not only on staffing but also on adequate ICT infrastructure. These findings highlight the need for a broader understanding of how staffing, digital capacity, and organizational context influence IPC performance.

[1]https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/indicateurs-de-qualite-en-hygiene-hos…

[2] Guidelines on core components of infection prevention and control programmes at the national and acute health care facility level. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO