| Sumario: | Published literature suggests "one-size-fits-all" infection prevention and control (IPC) staffing recommendations do not sufficiently account for program complexity needs. This project's objective was to create and validate a calculator utilizing risk and complexity factors to generate individualized IPC staffing ratios. An online survey-based calculator was created that incorporated factors intended to predict staffing needs and multiple investigative questions to allow for optimization of factors in the algorithm. Hospital characteristics, staffing ratios, staffing perception, and outcomes were analyzed to determine the optimal questions and benchmarks for future releases. The median infection preventionist full-time equivalent to bed ratio was 121.0 beds for 390 participating hospitals. The calculator deemed 79.2% of respondent staffing as below expected. Significant association existed between higher standard infection ratio ranges and staffing status for central line-associated bloodstream infection (P =.02), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (P =.001), Clostridioides difficile infections (P =.003), and colon surgical site infections (P =.0001). This novel approach allows facilities to staff their IPC program based on individual factors. Future versions of the calculator will be optimized based on the findings. Future research will clarify the impact of staffing on patient outcomes and staff retention. • A significant association exists between higher standard infection ratio ranges and staffing status for certain health care-associated infection types. • Almost 80% of hospitals participating in the study were identified as having lower than expected staffing levels. • More than 85% of respondents who believed their staffing levels were inadequate came from hospitals found to have lower than expected IP staffing by the calculator.
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