Hospitals Install Automated Systems for Disease Surveillance
A number of Veterans Affairs’s Hospitals are implementing automated systems to support infection control efforts; notifying clinicians about the incidence of hospital-acquired infections or potential outbreaks indicated by unexpected clusters of disease. The system adopted by the VA was developed by TheraDoc, which will also incorporated MRSA tracking.
The software system will include protocols to identify the patients with the highest risk of contracting such diseases and those who already have transmittable infections. Clinicians will then be alerted if patients should undergo screening who have been missed by other screening protocols.
To test the system, the VA is comparing the electronic solution to the current protocol for surveillance, which is paper-based. This is to be linked with the existing electronic records systems used in the facilities.
The electronic surveillance system scans three primary information sets to conduct ongoing surveillance: infection clusters identified with lab testing, test results obtained from studies to rule out infection, and prescriptions of antibiotic therapy.
Advantages of the system include automated notification about potential clusters of disease and the significantly reduced workload from monitoring ongoing laboratory studies electronically rather than manually. In the future, such tools may be linked to local, state, and federal efforts that require ongoing reporting of particular infections, such as MRSA and C. diff.
Limited institutions nationwide have adopted such electronic surveillance systems. They may begin to gain wider favor as the cost savings from effective surveillance are noted; from administrative oversight of infection control to costs to deliver care.
One of the facilities implementing the system, in Pittsburgh, launched a program in May to initiate broader screening to identify patients with MRSA.
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July 17, 2007 Related topics: Infectious Diseases, Facilities, Hygiene & Cleanliness