OBJECTIVE To investigate the data and usage, effectiveness and existing issues of three medical quality control indicators for hospital-associated infection management (2015 Edition), including hospital-associated infection incidence rate, hospital-associated infection prevalence rate and hospital-associated infection underreporting rate.

METHODS Data from hospitals that participated in reporting for three consecutive years (2018-2020) prior to the survey were selected for analysis through the annual professional quality control work conducted by the National Nosocomial Infection Management and Quality Control Center. An online questionnaire-based sampling survey was conducted to evaluate the usage of the aforementioned three hospital-associated infection quality control indicators.

RESULTS The usage rates of the three indicators were above 80% in hospitals of different levels and types. For the two indicators of hospital-associated infection incidence rate and hospital-associated infection underreporting rate, the usage rates were higher in tertiary hospitals than in secondary hospitals, and higher in general hospitals than in specialized hospitals (P < 0.05). For the hospital-associated infection prevalence rate indicator, the usage rate was 96.01% in tertiary hospitals, higher than that in secondary hospitals (90.73%), with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). The usage rate of such indicator was also higher in general hospitals (92.22%) than in specialized hospitals (89.50%) (P=0.102). Regarding self-evaluation of the implementation effectiveness of the hospital-associated infection incidence rate, statistically significant differences were found among hospitals of different levels and types (P < 0.001). For self-assessment of the implementation effectiveness of the hospital-associated infection prevalence rate and hospital-associated infection underreporting rate, statistically significant differences were found among hospitals of different levels (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS The three indicators, hospital-associated infection incidence rate, hospital-associated infection prevalence rate and hospital-associated infection underreporting rate, have been stable overall in the past three years. There are certain differences in their usage and evaluation. Reasonable revisions should be made based on actual situations to better guide clinical infection control work.