Computerization of infection control and culture data use in surveillance

A computerized system for infection surveillance data storage and reporting was developed using the HELP computer system at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Provision was man for the storage of five years of these data on disk. Infection information was entered directly into the patient data records from which computerized monthly and quarterly reports were run. This system saved the infection control practitioners at the hospital an estimated twenty-three hours per month in surveillance time. A second part of the work was a study performed to determine the effectiveness of using hospital-wide monthly culture rates to 1) monitor the nosocomial infection rate, 2) predict infection rates for the following month, or 3) detect nosocomial infection outbreaks. Correlations were performed between monthly culture rates and the nosocomial infection rates for the same month and between culture rates and the infection rates for the following month. Finally, the culture rates for months involving actual infections outbreaks were compared to the average culture rate and an upper 95% confidence interval to test the usefulness of culture data in detecting outbreaks. The results of the study indicated that hospital-wide monthly culture data were no reliable in monitoring infections rates for the same month, in detecting the infection rate for the following month or in detecting outbreaks.