Infection prevention and control (IPC) practices vary among companion animal clinics, and outbreaks with carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) have been described.

To investigate the effect of an IPC intervention (introduction of IPC protocols, IPC lectures, hand hygiene campaign) in four companion animal clinics.

IPC practices, environmental and hand contamination with antimicrobial-resistant micro-organisms (ARM) and hand hygiene (HH) were assessed at baseline, and 1 and 5 months after the intervention.

Median IPC scores (% maximum score) improved from 57.8% (range 48.0–59.8%) to 82.9% (range 81.4–86.3%) at 1-month follow-up. Median cleaning frequency assessed by fluorescent tagging increased from 16.7% (range 8.9–18.9%) to 30.6% (range 27.8–52.2%) at 1-month follow-up and 32.8% (range 32.2–33.3%) at 5-month follow-up. ARM contamination was low in three clinics at baseline and undetectable after the intervention. One clinic showed extensive contamination with ARM including CPE before and after the intervention (7.5–16.0% ARM-positive samples and 5.0–11.5% CPE-positive samples). Mean HH compliance improved from 20.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 19.2–22.8%] to 42.5% (95% CI 40.4–44.7%) at 1-month follow-up and 38.7% (95% CI 35.7–41.7%) at 5-month follow-up. Compliance was lowest in the pre-operative preparation area at baseline (11.8%, 95% CI 9.3–14.8%) and in the intensive care unit after the intervention (28.8%, 95% CI 23.3–35.1%). HH compliance was similar in veterinarians (21.5%, 95% CI 19.0–24.3%) and nurses (20.2%, 95% CI 17.9–22.7%) at baseline, but was higher in veterinarians (46.0%, 95% CI 42.9–49.1%) than nurses (39.0%, 95% CI 36.0–42.1%) at 1-month follow-up.

The IPC intervention improved IPC scores, cleaning frequency and HH compliance in all clinics. Adapted approaches may be needed in outbreak situations.