Overcoming Current and Preventing Future Nosocomial Outbreaks During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned at Three Hospitals in Japan

Hospitals are increasingly challenged by nosocomial infection outbreaks during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To prevent and control nosocomial infection because of COVID-19, various guidelines and manuals are widely available. However, learning through standardized documents or desktop trainings may be inapplicable when addressing the emergency settings compounded by COVID-19.

This study analyzed three hospitals in Japan where large-scale nosocomial infection outbreaks occurred and extracted hints on how to prevent nosocomial infection outbreaks. We reviewed openly available information from each hospital. The results highlighted that key strategies to tackle nosocomial infection outbreak were as follows: to detect the virus as soon as it enters the hospital, carefully manage staff-to-staff transmission, and strictly practice basic infection prevention control measures with the intensive support of outside experts under the coordination of the public health centers.

The lessons learned from the Japanese hospitals may provide useful insights for healthcare facilities and regional health administrators in developing and developed countries. It may help them mitigate the damage caused to health delivery systems by COVID-19 outbreaks.

The paper was published in the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” on 28 September 2021. The full text is available at the following website.