The Hospital Infection Surveillance System (KISS) systematically collects, analyses and evaluates relevant hygiene-related data on nosocomial infections in medical and nursing facilities of the German healthcare system with the aim of reducing them. The system was developed in 1996 and has since been operated by the National Reference Centre (NRZ) for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections, located at the Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at the Berlin Charité.
In order to increase the informative value of the data and thus also the effectiveness of surveillance, the KISS does not collect the data on a hospital-wide basis, but concentrates on particular risk areas within the hospital. KISS therefore consists of the following modules according to the different risk areas for which there are special surveillance methods:
