Leveraging surveillance technology to benefit the practice and profession of infection control

Background: Surveillance for health care-acquired infections is the cornerstone of an effective infection control program. Historically a key case finding methodology for surveillance activity has been the manual review of computerized microbiology reports performed by trained infection control professionals (ICPs). But this process is labor-intensive and diverts a substantial amount of time from the ICPs' consultative and educational responsibilities. Methods: The evaluation of an automated system for surveillance included a review of surveillance objectives, creation of a "wish list" of functions to be performed by an automated system, and identification and evaluation of available systems. Results: An automated surveillance system with defined single-event alerts and process control chart analyses to guide surveillance activity improved the management and analysis of surveillance data, leading to improved resource utilization and timely detection of potential outbreaks. Conclusions: An automated surveillance system can facilitate efficient review of data, promote rapid identification of sentinel events and outbreaks, and allow ICPs to pay more attention to education and performance improvement initiatives.