Monitoring hospital-acquired infections to promote patient safety--United States, 1990-1999.

Hospital-acquired infections are adverse patient events that affect approximately 2 million persons annually. National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) is a voluntary, hospital-based reporting system established to monitor hospital-acquired infections and to guide the prevention efforts of infection control practitioners (ICPs). The NNIS approach may be a model for future programs aimed at preventing other adverse patient events. This report describes the decrease in infection rates reported in NNIS hospitals during 1990-1999, presents the results of a survey of ICP responsibilities, and discusses the importance of NNIS for monitoring adverse patient events.