Predictors of “Good Practices” To Reduce Nosocomial Infections in Chilean Hospitals

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: An important proportion of nosocomial infections (NI) are associated to hospital practices so programs that evaluate these practices are important to identify situations that can be risk factors of NI. In Chile was developed a National Nosocomial Infection (NI) program by the Ministry of Health in 1983. In 1989 an external evaluation of hospitals called “accreditation” was created as a component of the program. To evaluate “good practices to prevent NI” The accreditation system has 5 mayor standards (Organization, surveillance, environment, clinical and support departments and occupational safety). Each standard has characteristics and interpretation (in total 66). The hospitals can result in Accreditation or Non-accreditation. Is a permanent process and depending on the results hospitals are evaluated each year or each three years. Considering that standards are developed based on practices that have shown impact in reducing NI, to be accreditated or non-accreditated is an indicator of the state of practices in hospitals. The Ministry of Health manages the information of the results. The objective of this study is to determine factors that contribute to be non-acreditated in the period 1990-2005 in Chilean Hospitals.