Does anyone have a reliable source for national hospital acquired infection rates?

[grannyNan]

I have looked just about everywhere I can think of and cannot find such a beast. I have found quotes anywhere from 0.74% to 2.0% We normally just track our own and sometimes those of other hospitals who are about our size. I have done this job for 16 years and now they want to see how we compare. There are so many factors in play here it is hard to compare. We are a not for profit rural hospital so to compare us to a facility which has a burn center, trauma ICU, ect is not really fair. But I digress... Any help/ideas would be wonderful.

[dacryocystitis]

I would try these sites for starters:

http://www.cdc.gov

http://www.niaid.nih.gov

http://www.shea-online.org

http://www.idsociety.org

I'm not an infection control nurse....sorry I can't help you out more. You can probably contact the National Institues on Allergy and Infectious Diseases (phone or email) and they can possibly direct you further.

You could also contact some other area hospitals to see where they find their information. I also would imagine the ID department in a university hospital would have some answers for you.

[catlover314]

In addition to the excellent suggestions above, try:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/nnis_pubs.html

This links to the NNIS national database for healthcare acquired infections.