Institute for Hospital Hygiene

The Institute is responsible for hospital hygiene care and consulting of Stuttgart hospital. Focus is given to the detection of nosocomial infections, the updating of the hygiene plan and the precautionary microbiological examinations of critical coverage areas. The Institute is responsible for the management of health boards in individual sites and the hospital's inter-site sanitary commission. The committees met ten times in 2010 and passed new regulations on basic hygiene, port systems and hygiene in dialysis.

Another focus of work in 2010 was precautionary investigations and measures for the further suppression of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The hospital was able to keep a remarkably low level in comparison with other tertiary providers. An important task was the building consultancy on hygienic methods for the new Paediatric and Women's Hospital at Katharinenhospital, the sanitary supervision of numerous conversions at Katharinenhospital and the new construction of the Centre for Mental Health at the Bad Cannstatt Hospital. Training on hygiene in the infusion therapy, dealing with resistant pathogens and basic hygiene for the nursing staff and doctors were conducted at all sites. Special focus in 2010 was given to intensive training on hand hygiene, through which the consumption of alcoholic hand disinfectant was significantly increased in the hospital.

The cross-departmental working group “Clinical Infectiology”, launched by the Institute, extended its work with educational events and visits to clinical diagnosis of infection and antibiotic therapy. The use of broad-spectrum antibiotics could this way be kept at a remarkably low level for maximum care hospitals. As external services the Institute assisted the Stuttgart Sports Clinic, Esslingen Hospital and the Sana Cardiac Surgery Hospital in Stuttgart.