Tasks of the National Reference Center (NRC)

The NRC for the surveillance of nosocomial infections offers the following services to its partners, including treating physicians, medical facilities, laboratories, and health authorities:

1. Expansion, optimization, and maintenance of the reference database for nosocomial infections (Hospital Infection Surveillance System - KISS)

  • ITS-KISS (Intensive Care Units)
  • STATIONS-KISS (Non-Intensive Care Units)
  • OP-KISS (for operated inpatients)
  • AMBU-KISS (for operated outpatients)
  • NEO-KISS (for premature infants with a birth weight < 1500 g)
  • ONKO-KISS (for patients with blood stem cell transplants and acute leukemias)
  • Pathogen Surveillance within the ITS-KISS and STATIONS-KISS modules
  • MRSA-KISS and CDI-KISS (for the entire hospital)
  • HAND-KISS (monitoring hand disinfectant usage and compliance)

The goal is to provide reference data for orientation to participating hospitals, outpatient surgical centers, and institutions that conduct surveillance based on the same criteria and methods.

2. Development of a reference database for nosocomial infections (Hospital Infection Surveillance System - KISS)

Medical institutions that apply KISS methods to orient themselves with reference data without actively participating in KISS also need support in conducting surveillance and interpreting surveillance data. This is also true for health authorities that oversee infection surveillance. The NRC offers support in applying CDC definitions for the diagnosis of nosocomial infections and answers other methodological questions.

3. Derivation of epidemiological data and risk factors for infection management

Due to the large number of participating healthcare institutions, the infection data helps describe the situation in Germany and allows targeted risk factor analyses. Both pieces of information are crucial for making decisions about infection prevention.

4. Provision of German data on nosocomial infection epidemiology to the ECDC

The NRC regularly provides data on nosocomial infections in intensive care units and postoperative wound infections in operated patients to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).