Computerized reminders to improve isolation rates of patients with drug-resistant infections: design and preliminary results.

Abel Kho*, Paul Dexter, Jeff Warvel, Marie Commiskey, Steve Wilson, Clement J. McDonald

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Infections with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) are a steadily increasing threat to inpatients as they move through the hospital. We constructed a computerized reminder system, integrated with existing data sources maintained by the infection control service. We tested the hypothesis that computerized reminders from a centralized infection control expert system can improve rates of barrier isolation in patients with MDROs. Immediately after institution of this reminder system, isolation of eligible ward patients increased from a baseline rate of 33% to 95% (p<0.0001). The median time to isolation decreased from 16.6 hours to 0 hours, indicating that the majority of patients post-intervention had isolation orders written prior to arrival on the ward. We conclude that a computerized reminder system can dramatically increase the clinical impact of data sources maintained by hospital Infection Control services.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)390-394
Number of pages5
JournalAMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings / AMIA Symposium. AMIA Symposium
StatePublished - 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Computerized reminders to improve isolation rates of patients with drug-resistant infections: design and preliminary results.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this