TY - JOUR
T1 - Techniques and uses of nosocomial infection surveillance in U.S. hospitals, 1976-1977
AU - Emori, T. Grace
AU - Haley, Robert W.
AU - Garner, Julia S.
N1 - Funding Information:
From the Hospital Infections Branch, Bacterial Diseases Division, Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia. This study was presented at the 2nd International Conference on Nosocomial Infections, held August 5-8,1980, in Atlanta, Georgia. The Hospital Interview Survey was supported in part by 1 percent evaluation funds through the office of Health Planning and Evaluation, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Centers for Disease Control, Attn: SENIC Project, Hospital Infections Branch, Bacterial Diseases Division, Center for Infectious Diseases, Atlanta, GA 30333.
PY - 1981/4
Y1 - 1981/4
N2 - From personal interviews in a representative sample of hospitals, we found that 97 per cent of them had some type of infection surveillance system; most involved continuous, hospital-wide surveillance, written definitions of infections, active case-finding methods and basic analytic techniques. Infection control nurses spent an average of about half of their time on surveillance. In larger hospitals (≥ 200 beds), the heads of the infection surveillance and control programs reported a greater awareness of most nosocomial infections if they were in hospitals with more intensive surveillance systems, and most indicated that surveillance data were used for a variety of specific purposes. Although 81 percent of persons who described surveillance reported using surveillance data in inservice education, only 31 percent of U.S. staff nurses recalled its having been presented. "Clean" wound, surgeon-specific rates of surgical wound infection were reported back to surgeons in only 16 percent of the hospitals. Ninety-seven percent of the hospital administrators believed that surveillance data are not a hindrance in defending the hospital against litigation for alleged malpractice, and 65 percent considered the information more often a help.
AB - From personal interviews in a representative sample of hospitals, we found that 97 per cent of them had some type of infection surveillance system; most involved continuous, hospital-wide surveillance, written definitions of infections, active case-finding methods and basic analytic techniques. Infection control nurses spent an average of about half of their time on surveillance. In larger hospitals (≥ 200 beds), the heads of the infection surveillance and control programs reported a greater awareness of most nosocomial infections if they were in hospitals with more intensive surveillance systems, and most indicated that surveillance data were used for a variety of specific purposes. Although 81 percent of persons who described surveillance reported using surveillance data in inservice education, only 31 percent of U.S. staff nurses recalled its having been presented. "Clean" wound, surgeon-specific rates of surgical wound infection were reported back to surgeons in only 16 percent of the hospitals. Ninety-seven percent of the hospital administrators believed that surveillance data are not a hindrance in defending the hospital against litigation for alleged malpractice, and 65 percent considered the information more often a help.
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U2 - 10.1016/0002-9343(81)90559-3
DO - 10.1016/0002-9343(81)90559-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 7211930
AN - SCOPUS:0019503855
SN - 0002-9343
VL - 70
SP - 933
EP - 940
JO - The American Journal of Medicine
JF - The American Journal of Medicine
IS - 4
ER -