Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Network (HAI-Net)
About the network
The Healthcare-Associated Infections Surveillance Network (HAI-Net) is a European network for the surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The network is coordinated by ECDC.
Activities
The activities of HAI-Net are largely based on the activities of the former IPSE (Improving Patient Safety in Europe) network. The coordination of IPSE was transferred to ECDC in July 2008. In addition, HAI-Net provides support to Member States to respond to the Council Recommendation of 9 June 2009 on patient safety, including the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (2009/C 151/01).
The main priorities of HAI-Net are:
- coordination of the European point prevalence survey of HAI and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals
- European surveillance of surgical site infections
- European surveillance of HAI in intensive care units
- European surveillance of Clostridioides difficile infections
- repeated prevalence surveys of HAI and antimicrobial use in European long-term care facilities.
Training on infection control in the EU/EEA
Supporting training on infection control and hospital hygiene in the EU/EEA
Prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) relies on specialised infection prevention and control staff in charge of elaborating, implementing and monitoring local preventive measures such as hand hygiene, patient isolation and HAI surveillance.
ECDC activities support infection control and hospital hygiene training programmes in the EU and EEA Member States at national and regional level through:
- development of the core competencies for infection control and hospital hygiene professionals in the European Union;
- contribution to the European Committee on Infection Control (EUCIC) Infection Prevention and Control Certificate;
- organising the course “Control of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in healthcare settings”.