Abstract
The harmonisation of training programmes for infection control and hospital hygiene (IC/HH) professionals in Europe is a requirement of the Council recommendation on patient safety. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control commissioned the 'Training Infection Control in Europe' project to develop a consensus on core competencies for IC/HH professionals in the European Union (EU). Core competencies were drafted on the basis of the Improving Patient Safety in Europe (IPSE) project's core curriculum (CC), evaluated by questionnaire and approved by National Representatives (NRs) for IC/HH training. NRs also re-assessed the status of IC/HH training in European countries in 2010 in comparison with the situation before the IPSE CC in 2006. The IPSE CC had been used to develop or update 28 of 51 IC/HH courses. Only 10 of 33 countries offered training and qualification for IC/HH doctors and nurses. The proposed core competencies are structured in four areas and 16 professional tasks at junior and senior level. They form a reference for standardisation of IC/HH professional competencies and support recognition of training initiatives.
Highlights
There has been an increase in prevention and control activities in the field of infection control and hospital hygiene (IC/HH) in recent years owing to an increased awareness of patient safety and the considerable burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) [1]
More than two thirds (22/30) of European countries reported that at least one training course was available for IC/HH professionals, with 51 courses reported in total
Based on the findings of the Training in Infection Control in Europe (TRICE) project, we consider that Europe is moving toward acknowledgement and a higher priority for HAI prevention and control
Summary
There has been an increase in prevention and control activities in the field of infection control and hospital hygiene (IC/HH) in recent years owing to an increased awareness of patient safety and the considerable burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) [1] While this strengthens the role of IC/HH professionals [2], the process has not always been accompanied by a commensurate increase in the resources for IC/HH prevention and control [3]. The need to guarantee healthcare quality standards throughout Europe, including for IC/HH, has been further stressed by the approval of the European Union (EU) directive on cross-border patient mobility [9] Topics such as patient safety, quality improvement, continuing professional development and risk management have become increasingly important and should be part of the content of contemporary IC/HH training programmes [2,10-12]. Experts from the IPSE project and representatives of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) subsequently developed a European core curriculum for training of IC/HH professionals across Europe [8]
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