New Approaches to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infection

Healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) in hospitals mainly results from unsolved but well-identified causes such as hand hygiene, overuse of catheters, and to a lesser extent, the airborne transmission of infectious agents caused by the misuse of respiratory precautions. The aims of the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection are to develop new approaches to fight HCAIs. Among them, new technologies that allow for the traceability of care and good practices reminders have been developed concomitantly to an anthropological approach, facilitating acceptability by healthcare workers. While the automated continuous monitoring system is validated and commercially available, some other technologies are still under clinical evaluation or in the early development phase. Quorum sensing–based biotechnologies are developed with the aims to fight against wound colonization.