Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program (CNISP)

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• Surveillance data publications

About

The Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program (CNISP) is a sentinel hospital network that includes 88 acute care hospitals in 10 provinces and 1 territory. Established in 1995, the program is a collaboration between:

• the Public Health Agency of Canada
• the National Microbiology Laboratory
• the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada
• sentinel hospitals across Canada

This network conducts surveillance of healthcare-associated infections on:

• antibiograms
• antimicrobial use
• surgical site and device related infections associated with:
  • central lines
  • hip and knee arthroplasty
  • cerebrospinal fluid shunts
  • adult and pediatric cardiac surgery
• antibiotic resistant organisms, such as:
  • Candida auris
  • Clostridioides difficile infections
  • Carbapenemase-producing organisms
  • Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections
  • Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections
  • Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus blood stream infections
• viral respiratory infections, such as COVID-19, influenza

In addition, periodic point prevalence surveys are conducted on healthcare-associated infections including antimicrobial resistant organisms and antimicrobial usage. These surveys measure how common a particular characteristic, such as infection, illness or risk factors, during a particular point in time.

These data are used to help inform programs and policies related to:

• antimicrobial stewardship
• antimicrobial resistance
• infection prevention and control

For more information on

• antimicrobial usage
• the characteristics of CNISP participating hospitals
• rates of healthcare-associated infection and antimicrobial resistant organisms

Visit our interactive data trends page for surveillance trends and recent publications

Surveillance data publications

Related links

• CNISP: Infection rates of national healthcare-acquired infections and antimicrobial-resistant organisms and antimicrobial usage in hospitals
• Healthcare infection prevention and control guidelines
• Antibiotic resistance research and surveillance
• Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS)