Cardinal’s Infection Tracking System Expanded, Launched in Alabama
The MedMined application available from Cardinal Health has been expanded to allow facilities to compare their rates of hospital-acquired infections with other institutions. The company issued a press release describing the new tool, as well as sharing news of system deployment at 46 hospitals across Alabama.
The MedMined tool is a tracking application that monitors the incidence of hospital-acquired infections (HAI). The system monitors the incidence of disease through tracking of a common marker associated with nosocomial infections.
An additional new functionality displays graphs of HAI incidence in each hospital unit, to support visual assessment of data collected. The new feature further indicates whether infection rates are increasing or decreasing. This supports identification of areas for improvement, as well as the development of best practice models.
The other new tool supports comparison of infection rates with other institutions similar in nature. Data from different institutions is compared based on the composition of specific units, such as type and size. Additionally, this feature considers how ill patients are. This last factor is commonly cited as a concern when comparing data from different facilities, which may fail to take disease severity into account. Hospitals can also be compared as a whole, rather than considering only discrete units.
The tool has already been launched in 46 hospitals across Alabama. It is now being rolled out to other institutions that have deployed MedMined through a phased process.
May 5, 2008 Related topics: Hygiene & Cleanliness, IT & software