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Surveillance for Nosocomial Infections: Can the Sources of Data Be Reduced?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Peter A. Gross ,
Amy Beaugard  and
Carole Van Antwerpen
Peter A. Gross*
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine, Hackensack Hospital, Hackensack, New Jersey and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York
Amy Beaugard
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine, Hackensack Hospital, Hackensack, New Jersey and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York
Carole Van Antwerpen
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine, Hackensack Hospital, Hackensack, New Jersey and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York
*
Johnson Hall, Room 121, Hackensack Hospital, Hackensack, NJ 07601
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Abstract

With the goal of achieving economy in infection control surveillance we tested the relative efficiency of the various surveillance sources for detecting nosocomial infections (NIs). We reviewed the initial and final surveillance sources of 415 NIs at Hackensack Hospital during an 11-month period; cultures were taken on most of the patients with NIs. Positive microbiology cultures were the initial sources in 64.8% of NIs and secondary sources in 23.6%. Chart review of patients with positive cultures added another 2.9%. Therefore, 91.3% of NIs could have been detected by positive culture reports. The remainder were discoverable by notification from nurses, or by studying admission cards or temperature rounds. Although the NIs missed by lack of a positive culture report often were significant infections, these alternate methods of surveillance did not help to detect any clusters of infections that could be traced to a particular source among the staff or the environment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , August 1980 , pp. 233 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1980

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