State of infection prevention and control in Austrian hospitals: data from 81 hospitals completing the WHO Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework (IPCAF)

The WHO Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework (IPCAF) can be used for systematically evaluating infection prevention and control (IPC) practices in healthcare facilities. In 2018, a survey among Austrian hospitals using the IPCAF revealed an overall high level of IPC implementation. Here, we report the results of a second survey in Austrian hospitals with the IPCAF, to once again evaluate the state of IPC implementation and investigate potential developments since 2018.

A total of 139 Austrian acute care hospitals participating in the German surveillance network “KISS” were invited to complete a translated online version of the IPCAF between October 2023 and January 2024. The IPCAF functions like a questionnaire, where each response is assigned a specific point value, enabling the calculation of an overall IPC score. Based on this score, hospitals were categorized into four distinct IPC levels: inadequate, basic, intermediate, and advanced. The aggregated scores were then calculated and compared with the results from 2018.

Complete datasets from 81 hospitals were received and analyzed. The median overall IPCAF score was 645 (interquartile range: 598–685), with 59 hospitals (72.9%) categorized as advanced, and 21 hospitals (25.9%) as intermediate. One hospital (1.2%) fell into the basic category. Questions pertaining to IPC education and training as well as the application of multimodal IPC strategies showed the lowest scores. Compared to 2018, the current median score of 645 was slightly higher (median score 2018: 620; data from 65 hospitals) and the proportion of hospitals with a full-time IPC professional per 250 beds increased markedly by 37 percentage points. However, the most pronounced decrease (median score − 5) was observed for questions on the WHO core component of IPC education and training.

IPC standards in Austria show an overall increasing trend, especially in terms of IPC staffing. However, areas for improvement remain, and hospitals should make efforts to strengthen IPC education and training programs.