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Changing the Infection Control Paradigm From Off-Line to Real Time The Experience at Millard Fillmore Health System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

James R. Carr ,
Paul Fitzpatrick ,
Joseph L. Izzo ,
Thomas J. Cumbo ,
Mary C. Birmingham ,
Martin H. Adelman ,
Joseph A. Paladino ,
Stephen C. Hanson  and
Jerome J. Schentag
James R. Carr*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Paul Fitzpatrick
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Joseph L. Izzo
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Thomas J. Cumbo
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Mary C. Birmingham
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Martin H. Adelman
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Joseph A. Paladino
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Stephen C. Hanson
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
Jerome J. Schentag
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Infection Management Division, System Administration and the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Health System, Buffalo, New York
*
Millard Fillmore Health System, Infection Management Division, 3 Gates Cir, Buffalo, NY 14209
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Abstract

In 1993, several departments at Millard Fillmore Health System joined efforts to initiate a new approach to infection control. The main emphasis of this program is to move infection control to a real-time mode to manage patient outcomes daily. The principal objective was to decrease the number of nosocomial infections by 10%, with a particular emphasis on surgical-site infections. Besides real-time surveillance, we are critically evaluating several aspects of the management of nosocomial infections.

High-level computer support has been the framework upon which this program was built. We have micro-computers that are linked directly to microbiology, pharmacy, billing, and admissions, downloading data several times daily. An expert software system merges all of the data, and from this we can target patients for real-time interventions. The computer system allows all inpatients to be screened for either infection control or antibiotic management inter ventions on a daily basis, with minimal time being spent on data collection and maximal efforts devoted to inter ventions at the bedside.

Additionally, the infection management program will assist in maintaining the extraordinarily low expenditures on antimicrobial agents. During 1993, the Millard Fillmore Health System spent $924,884 on antibiotics, an amount approximately 50% that of comparably sized hospitals.

Type
Readers' Forum
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , April 1997 , pp. 255 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1997

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