Device-associated infections in Canadian acute-care hospitals from 2009 to 2018

BACKGROUND: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) pose a serious risk to patient safety and quality of care. The Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program (CNISP) conducts national surveillance of HAIs at sentinel acute-care hospitals across Canada. This report provides an overview of 10 years of Canadian data on the epidemiology of select device-associated HAIs. METHODS: Over 40 hospitals submitted data between 2009 and 2018 for hip and knee surgical site infections (SSIs), cerebrospinal fluid shunt SSIs, paediatric cardiac SSIs and/or central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). Counts, rates, patient and hospital characteristics, as well as pathogen distributions and antimicrobial susceptibilities are presented. RESULTS: (14%) were the most frequently reported pathogens. Gram-positive pathogens represented 68% of identified pathogens, gram-negative pathogens represented 22% and fungi represented 9%. CONCLUSION: Understanding the national burden of device-associated HAIs is essential for developing and maintaining benchmark rates for informing infection and prevention control and antimicrobial stewardship policies and programs.