Improving infection control in developing countries: the infection control assessment tool

Methods We developed the Infection Control Assessment Tool (ICAT) under the auspices of the Rational Pharmaceutical Management Program at Management Sciences for Health (Washington, DC) with support from the United States Agency for International Development. ICAT enables users with limited infection control expertise to complete hospital-wide, unit-based, or problem-based evaluations of existing infection control infrastructures and practices. ICAT includes 21 modules, each focused on a particular topic (e.g., hand hygiene, isolation and standard precautions, disinfection and sterilization) or department/ward (e.g., labor and delivery, intensive care, medical/surgical ward). ICAT provides a scoring system to evaluate the findings and makes practical, low-cost recommendations for improvement based on guidelines from international organizations (e.g., World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and experts.