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CNISP Protocols & Publications

The Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program (CNISP) is a collaborative effort of the Canadian Hospital Epidemiology Committee (CHEC), a subcommittee of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (AMMI) Canada and the Centre for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control (CCDIC) of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). IPAC Canada has a representative in this program.


CNISP Surveillance Protocols 

For protocols or documents not appearing below, contact CNISP: cnisp-pcsin@phac-aspc.gc.ca. The CNISP InfoBase page can be found here

for the CNISP InfoBase page to the IPAC website.

Protocoles de Surveillance PCSIN 

Canadian Nosocomial Surveillance Program data are now available online to any acute-care hospital or Canadian looking for information on healthcare-associated infections (including antimicrobial resistant organisms) in a sentinel hospital network from across Canada:


CNISP Infobase


CNISP Infographics


About CNISP

The Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program (CNISP) is a hospital sentinel network, which includes 90 acute care hospitals in 10 provinces and two territories. CNISP was established in 1995 and is a collaboration between the Public Health Agency of Canada including the National Microbiology Laboratory, the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada and sentinel hospitals across Canada.

CNISP collects national level data on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), antibiotic resistant organisms (AROs), antibiograms, and antimicrobial use. Through active surveillance and reporting, epidemiologic and laboratory data are used to inform infection prevention and control and antimicrobial stewardship programs and policies.

CNISP surveillance activities include:

  • Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections (BSI)
  • Carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPO)
  • Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) BSI
  • Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI)
  • Central-line associated BSI (CLABSI)
  • Hip and knee surgical site infections (SSI)
  • Cerebrospinal fluid shunt SSI
  • Pediatric cardiac SSI
  • Antimicrobial use
  • Candida auris
  • Antibiogram
  • Viral respiratory infections/COVID-19
  • Point prevalence surveys

Permission has been given to IPAC Canada to provide CNISP information on the IPAC Canada website from our members. More information about CNISP projects may be found on the CNISP website  


CNISP Objectives

  • Establish ongoing national surveillance system to determine the epidemiology of nosocomial infections in Canadian hospitals
  • Establish "benchmark" data
  • Provide data that can be used to develop national guidelines for infection prevention CNISP Hospitals
  • Predominantly teaching hospitals, with required expertise and commitment


CNISP Limitations

  • Significant workload at hospital sites, particularly impacted by hospital capacity
  • Currently not conducting surveillance in long term care facilities


CNISP Achievements

  • Only national surveillance system in Canada collecting epidemiologic and linked microbiology data regarding healthcare acquired infections
  • Network of hospitals that has worked in partnership with PHAC/National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) since 1995
  • Has provided Canadian "benchmark" data for a variety of healthcare-associated infections as well as viral respiratory infections, such as Covid-19

Permission has been given to IPAC Canada to provide CNISP information on the IPAC Canada website for our members. More information about CNISP projects may be found on the CNISP website:  https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/surveillance.html#a6


CNISP Recent Publications


Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (CARSS)

Canada Communicable Disease Report (CCDR)

All documents are in Acrobat pdf format. Get Acrobat Reader.