Prospective nationwide healthcare-associated infection surveillance system in South Korea

Abstract

The Korean Society for Healthcare-associated Infection Control and Prevention ran a nationwide database of healthcare associated infection surveillance system. Korean National Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance System (KONIS) is a nationwide surveillance network to perform of healthcare associated infection surveillance using standardized methods. Intensive care unit surveillance was begun on July 2006 and SSI module was added in 2007. The enrollment criteria of intensive care unit surveillance were general hospitals over 400 beds with infection control practitioner and doctors in 2006 but the criteria were expanded to over 200 beds size hospitals in 2016. Overall 70.5% hospitals were included in 2017. All tertiary care hospitals were enrolled. Less than 300 beds hospitals accounted for 59%. KONIS validation study has been performed from 2008 biennially. Future directions of KONIS include expansion of participating hospitals and multicenter intervention modules and new modules for special units such as neonatal intensive care units.