Postdischarge Surveillance: Value and Problems Perceived by Infection Control Practitioners in Switzerland

To the Editor—Switzerland is one of the few countries where routine postdischarge surveillance (PDS) for the surveillance of surgical site infections (SSIs) is practiced by telephone interview 1 month (and for implanted devices a second interview at 12 months) after the procedure, which is comparable with the system in the Netherlands. This survey was designed to analyze the perceptions on work load and value of PDS by Swiss infection control practitioners in order to assess the efficiency of resource utilization. The online questionnaire was distributed in December 2015 and January 2016. A major limitation of the study is the subjective assessment method of the survey, but the high response rate of 76 (62.3%) of the 122 Swiss hospitals that were asked to participate provides a representative sample. Although the practical value of PDS related to clinical infection control is rated moderate on an 8-item Likert scale, the work load is rated high compared with other duties (Figure 1). A total of 23 (37.1%) of the 62 respondents for this item say that they definitely have curtailed other duties owing to the requirements of PDS and 13 (20.9%) feel that sometimes they neglect other duties because time is needed for PDS. A total of 30 respondents (48.4%) would define the costs and effort for PDS for the hospital as high but 34 (55.8%) agree that without PDS many SSIs would not be detected. The time effort for one telephone interview and data logging was