Surveillance and Technology

Concurrent Education Session - 60 minutes

2108 - The Neverending Story: Ip's Responsibility for Surveillance System Development

Primary Speaker(s)

• 

  Rebecca Ragar, MPH, MLS(ASCP)CM, CIC

  Infection Preventionist
  HonorHealth
  Mesa, Arizona

  Nothing to disclose

Second Speaker(s)

• 

  Gretchen Ange, RN, BSN, CIC

  Infection Preventionist
  HonorHealth
  Mesa, Arizona

  Nothing to disclose

Moderator(s)

• 

  Kathleen Arias, MS, MT(ASCP), CIC, FAPIC

  Director
  Arias Infection Control Consulting,
  Crownsville, Maryland

  Nothing to disclose

All IPC programs require comprehensive surveillance for HAIs and epidemiologically significant organisms. Many healthcare systems have transitioned, or are transitioning, from traditional surveillance methods to electronic surveillance systems to reduce IP surveillance workload. Electronic surveillance system structures vary across healthcare systems due to endless combinations of electronic medical record systems, electronic surveillance systems, customizations, upgrade versions, and resources. Customization of electronic surveillance systems, which is necessary for most healthcare systems, potentially leads to decreased data integrity if validation processes are not in place and maintained. Surveillance data integrity is critical, and the lack thereof may have serious patient care, public health, and financial implications.

This session will provide details on how one healthcare system implemented and validated an electronic surveillance system and will describe the responsibilities of IPs for the development and maintenance of these systems.

Participants will learn the key steps after implementation, including additional maintenance and validation processes. These processes include, but are not limited to, defining and validating: report logic, data sources, automated surveillance algorithms, alerts, and data exports. This session will cover the review, selection, and validation of features, and discuss process standardization to ensure accurate data retrieval.

Learning Objectives:

• Upon completion, participants will be able to identify fields and features in electronic surveillance systems for which validation is critical to data integrity.
• Upon completion, participants will be able to describe techniques to improve communication with electronic surveillance system analysts and developers when requesting system features and fixes.
• Upon completion, participants will be able to describe their responsibility to advocate for improvements in electronic surveillance system development and standards.