The 2015 National Program for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections (Propias), issued via the DGOS/DGS/DGCS directive of June 15, 2015, calls for a national prevalence survey (ENP) of healthcare-associated infections to be conducted in healthcare facilities every five years. These surveys have been regularly offered since 1996 to all French healthcare facilities, both public and private.

In 2022, under the auspices of the Network for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections (Répias) and in collaboration with the Support Centers for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections (CPias), Santé publique France is offering all French healthcare facilities a new national prevalence survey (ENP) on healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial treatments.

Objectives

• To measure, on a given day, the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and the use of antimicrobial treatments among hospitalized patients

• To describe the main characteristics of healthcare facilities in terms of operations and patient demographics

• To raise awareness among all healthcare staff in healthcare facilities regarding the risk of nosocomial infections and the importance of monitoring antimicrobial use in hospitals.

Data Collection

Data collection will take place between May 15 and June 30, 2022.

Survey procedure

As in 2017, this survey is part of a European protocol involving the conduct of national prevalence surveys in each member state and the transmission of their data to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Based on this protocol, the ECDC will produce an overview of the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial treatments in Europe.

The survey protocol, and in particular the questionnaires, will be very similar to those of the 2017 ENP.

A new tool for data entry and reporting of results (PREVIAS) will be made available to healthcare facilities.

As in 2017, a randomly selected sample of healthcare facilities will be contacted in April 2022 to participate in the survey. However, all healthcare facilities that wish to do so may participate in the survey and have access to the tools, particularly for data entry and reporting.

Training sessions for survey coordinators at each healthcare facility will be organized in each region by the CPias in April–May 2022.