Improving hospital hygiene to reduce the impact of multidrug-resistant organisms in health care–a prospective controlled multicenter study

Table 1 Characteristics used to match the study hospitals

	Number of discharges/year^a	Number of beds^a	Level of care^b	Matching pair
	(Precision: 10³)	(Precision: 10²)	Level of care^b	Matching pair
Hospital 1	40,000	1,000	maximum	A
Hospital 2	35,000	900	maximum	A
Hospital 3	23,000	500	standard	B
Hospital 4	10,000	200	standard	B
Hospital 5	7,000	200	standard	C
Hospital 6	7,000	100	standard	C
Hospital 7	4,000	100	standard	D
Hospital 8	4,000	100	standard	D

^aData refer to the year 2010
^bLevels of care (maximum care or standard care)
-maximum care hospitals: tertiary care; major hospitals with specific sub-specialty care
-standard care hospitals: secondary care; the range of services is restricted to prevalent conditions and a typical range of risks

ISSN: 1471-2334