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Epidemiological surveillance of nosocomial infections in hip arthroplasty was established in chilean hospitals in 1996. Between 1996 and 1999 the surveillance system reported, in 28 hospitals, 134 infections in 3.889 operations, with a cummulative rate of 3.5%. Epidemiological surveillance in Chile does not differentiate infections of the surgical wound from infections of the hip replacement itself, and the period of follow up is during hospital stay after surgery. The most frequent etiological agents were non fermentative Gram negative bacilli (33.3%), mainly Acinetobacter baumannii. Gram positive cocci represented 23.8% of the etiologies. Hospitals with higher mean number of operations had lower rates (5.0% in hospitals with low surgical volume and 2.9% in hospitals with higher volume). The findings of the surveillance system suggest some risk factors that require further research, such as the duration of preoperative hospital stay and experience of the surgical center.