The structural and spatial design of German intensive care units from the point of view of infection control measures : Survey among ICU-KISS participants

Intensive care unit (ICU) structural and spatial design may play a role in infection prevention and control. Between 09/2021 and 11/2021 we performed an online survey among ICUs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A total of 597 (40%) of the invited ICUs answered the survey; 20% of the ICUs were built before 1990. The median number of single rooms with interquartile range is 4 (IQR 2-6). The median total room number is 8 (IQR 6-12). The median room size is 19 (IQR 16-22) m for single rooms and 31 (26-37.5) m for multiple bed rooms. Furthermore, 80% of ICUs have sinks and 86.4% have heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems in patient rooms. 54.6% of ICUs must store materials outside of storage rooms due to lack of space and only 33.5% have a room dedicated to disinfection and cleaning of used medical devices. Comparing ICUs built before 1990 and after 2011 we could show a slightly increase of single rooms (3 [IQR 2-5] before 1990 vs. 5 [IQR 2-8] after 2011; p