Dr Ann Bull1, Dr Lyn-li Lim1, A/Professor Leon Worth1,4, Professor Deb Friedman1,2,3
1VICNISS Coordinating Centre, Melbourne, Australia, 2Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, 3Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, 4Sir Peter MaCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Biography:
Professor Friedman is Director of the VICNISS Coordinating Centre. For over 20 years Deb's research has focused on healthcare associated infections and antimicrobial resistance. More recently Deb led infection prevention for Victoria during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she served as one of the deputy Chief Health Officers during this time.
Abstract:
Introduction
Hospital infection prevention and control (IPC) programs have broad and evolving portfolios. To inform future frameworks, review of existing resources for IPC programs is timely.
Methods
A voluntary survey of IPC staff was distributed to all Victorian public and private hospitals. Questions included allocated FTE for programs, including nursing staff, analysed by hospital acute bed size categories (≥200, 100-199, or <100 beds). Results were reported as median FTE per 100 acute beds. We examined both overall staffing and nursing staffing, and a separate analysis was undertaken of hospitals with > 200 acute beds comparing large public and private hospitals.
Results
113 responses were received from 113 individual facilities spanning 68 health services, representing 45% of Victorian hospitals. More respondents were from public (48%) than private (40%) hospitals and from regional/rural (65%), than metropolitan hospitals (29%). Hospitals with ≥200 beds reported a median overall FTE per 100 beds of 1.6, compared with hospitals in the small and medium categories which reported 0.8 and 0.5 FTE, respectively. The median overall FTE per 100 acute beds was higher in public (3.2), compared with private (0.4) hospitals.
Conclusion
Overall, findings demonstrate heterogeneity of IPC program resourcing in Victorian hospitals. Private hospitals and smaller hospitals have lower median FTE per 100 beds than large metropolitan hospitals. With increasing demands on IPC teams, an understanding of current resourcing assists in identifying needs and sectors requiring additional support (e.g., private and rural/regional), to ensure patient safety and staff wellbeing.